Adventures in Blade Snatching
by hellyeahshescool
Summary: In which Estonia reluctantly embarks on an intercontinental adventure.
1. Gathering of Fools

European meetings were never the sophisticated affairs that they set out to be. After listening to a weekend of England ranting about how people shouldn't eat horses whilst the rest of Europe nonchalantly ignored him, everyone was keen to relax at the party on the last evening. This involved an over the top consumption of alcohol.

It was a sad fact that the nations were highly resistant to a plethora of drugs. Of course, their individual resistances varied depending on sex, weight, and other factors (although Latvia seemed exempt from this restriction), but all nations were much less likely to be affected by drugs than a human of similar stature. It was fortunate in that they weren't easily poisoned, but it made their alcohol bills extremely high.

Estonia had never really been a party person. He had lived with numerous other nations who enjoyed throwing various balls and banquets, and after a few centuries he was fairly tired of it all. Clearly, though, he was in the minority. At least once a month he was expected to attend an 'informal function' in which the nations should 'get to know each other's cultures and traditions'. If it was up to him, Estonia would have taken a plane back to his home the evening after the meeting finished, but at least forced social occasions were a good time to people watch.

This party was a surprisingly interesting one. The venue was the very posh, though not particularly well decorated, hotel in which the meetings had been taking place. It had started off with England staunchly thanking them for attending, before reminding them of next month's World Meeting in Russia whilst using various naff quotes for atmospheric effect. However, it rapidly deteriorated into a disorganised mess; tables were knocked over, an overzealous game of darts in which there appeared to be no set target was being played, and the chandelier was sporting a pink frilly thong. Estonia didn't want to think about where that came from.

The surprise of the party thus far, though, was France. Usually he would be found with a glass of red wine in hand either bothering England, flirting with whoever looked vaguely in his direction, or a complicated combination of the two. However, this time he was standing in a corner of the room, looking rather discombobulated and confused. It was rather worrying. Earlier in the evening he had been fine, heckling during England's speeches and commenting on the poor quality of the very expensive food, but now he didn't even react when a dart whizzed by his ear and punctured the frame of an extravagant painting. He groaned and leaned against the wall, looking tired, before sinking down to his knees.

Estonia had actually planned on leaving soon, he had spent a little over two hours at the party, plenty enough to be able to recount the main events without being around so long that he actually got involved in one of those events. He may be a nation, but he still had a circadian rhythm and wanted to go to sleep before too long. However, France was actually worrying him a little. Having fought in various battles and wars, it was against Estonia's nature to just leave an obviously distressed and vulnerable individual on the field, however, he also had a penchant for not getting involved in such matters and would rather have got another nation to go to the rescue. All the others were ignoring France, although in their intoxicated state it was to be expected. The more sensible nations who Estonia could trust to not be totally inebriated appeared to have briefly disappeared. Estonia sighed, it was obvious that he would have to help.

Estonia started to make his way across the busy floor, dodging darts and deflecting drunkards as he tried to seek out France. Suddenly, a hand appeared on his shoulder,

"Hello Sweden," a smiling, but obviously drunk England happily greeted. Estonia wasn't too offended by this misidentification, perhaps he could use it as evidence that he should be considered a Nordic. He briefly looked around for the real Sweden, and found that he was currently letting Poland stand on his shoulders in an attempt to rescue the chandelier's underwear. It was both geographically and mentally disturbing, but at least Estonia felt that it was sufficiently safe to keep up his Swedish charade.

"Do you want to know a secret?" a swaying England grinned. Estonia wasn't in a particularly secret-sharing mood, but decided that it was safer to humour England rather than relay that his intention was to help France.

"What is it?" Estonia tried to smile as he asked. He hoped he wasn't going to be shown one of those rocks that were laid on the dining table earlier. He had thought them decoration until England actually ate one.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, it was not a rock. England reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out… a sprig of mint?

"The fairies gave it to me," he whispered.

"Um, that's nice," Estonia was keen to move England on, France really wasn't looking well. "Sorry but I have to go…" he attempted to break away.

"No, no, no," England shook his head and grabbed onto Estonia's arm "You don't understand. It's magical." A stern look was on his face. It seemed that Estonia was going to have to work harder to escape England's clutches. The best idea seemed to be to entertain England for a time whilst thinking up the next escape route.

"What's so magical about it?" Estonia asked. He wasn't totally confused by the proclamation of magical beings. Although not being 'blessed' with the ability to see them himself, a sober Latvia occasionally mentioned that he could see gryphons and an almost sober Russia made him hide in the storage outhouse for a week to escape from 'the spirit of winter'. Compared to this a possessed mint sprig was nothing.

"Aha!" England proclaimed "This magical plant can alter your perceptions!"

"It's a drug?"

England sighed, suddenly looking very tired.

"Of course not. It's a piece of powerful magic to use against your enemies. Honestly Sweden, you really need to stop being so naïve," England patted Estonia's shoulder, smiling. Estonia looked over at France who now appeared to be asleep. In fact, Greece was also asleep next to him, curled up like an overly large cat. Estonia was glad that he looked okay, but really had to shake England off somehow.

"Say I had an enemy, call him France, I mean France-is, yeah, Francis," England continued, ignoring Estonia's glances at France "Imagine if Francis was heckling and annoying you all day," England put on a look of faux despair as he relayed his tragic tale "Then you might want to give him a couple of leaves of this. It'll keep him quiet for the rest of the night!" England gleefully finished.

"Wait, you drugged France?" Estonia was genuinely shocked and worried, though also mildly impressed, "Will he be okay?"

"Aww, whatever, he'll be fine," England brushed off Estonia's concerns "Even humans are okay with a bit of this stuff, just makes them quiet for a while," he shrugged, before holding out the sprig. "I like you, you're not an idiot. Take this and use it on someone you don't like."

Estonia really didn't want to take the strange plant. He felt as if he was in some illicit drug dealing ring. However, it would probably be safer for everyone if a drunken England was not in charge of such an item.

"Thank you," Estonia graciously accepted the twig. It certainly _looked_ like a normal sprig of mint. He gave it a cautious sniff. It certainly _smelled_ like a normal sprig of mint. He wrapped it up in a pale blue handkerchief and put it in his inside pocket.

"Excuse me England, but could I borrow Estonia?" Lithuania asked as he approached the pair. Estonia was relieved to finally find a way out of the conversation.

"Who?" England confusedly looked around, trying to spot the fabled Estonia who he was supposedly in possession of.

"Yes," Estonia snappily replied to his saviour's question "See you later, England," he smiled, grateful to be free of England's grasp.

"Oh, alright then," England looked a little sad "Goodbye, Sweden."

"Thank you," Estonia half-whispered to a mildly confused Lithuania.

The pair walked a little way across the hall's floor in an attempt to get away from the crowd which was now making an attempt to play some sort of dangerous mixture of blind man's bluff and red rover. Estonia stole a glance back to France, who was now fast asleep, Greece and Switzerland, who it appeared were no match for the free bar, were laid beside him, also having a snooze. England was known to be a very truthful drunk, so Estonia wasn't too worried about France's health, and he didn't really want to risk waking Switzerland up. He decided that it would probably be best for all if he let them be. He continued walking to a quieter area with Lithuania.

"I'm about to leave," Lithuania finally spoke "I was wondering if you were also leaving soon?" he definitely looked worn out. It wasn't too surprising since he was one of the more hard working members of the group.

"Definitely," Estonia was a little too enthusiastic at the thought of finally being able to leave the badly decorated prison "Should I go get Latvia?" The three of them were staying at the same hotel, it gave a good deal with their airline cards. He gave a glance towards the bar where Latvia invariably homed into. He was chatting to Belgium whilst surrounded by tankards.

"No," Lithuania snapped, before correcting himself. "Latvia enjoys staying out late, and anyway," Lithuania fidgeted "I want to speak to you alone."

This struck Estonia as being a little odd. Lithuania was usually the one who rallied them all up and made sure that everyone and everything was organised. He was a sort of team mother, normally a little annoying but definitely someone who you were grateful that they were around. However, this disregard towards Latvia combined with the more-stressed-than-usual expression which Lithuania was sporting did worry Estonia a little. He really wanted to ask what was wrong, but felt that it wasn't his place.

"I'll get my coat," he answered "I'll meet you by the taxis."

Lithuania nodded in agreement and they both started making their way towards the exit, occasionally dodging the blindfolded nations who were using the floor as a running track.

Estonia really didn't know why he brought a coat to London in the early summer. Even in winter at his own home he occasionally went out to the shops without any specialised winter clothing, although people did think him a little strange for doing this. He supposed that it was good to be prepared for all eventualities. Anyway, despite his inappropriate attire taking a while to find in the cloakroom, he managed to find Lithuania outside by the taxi stop. They managed to get a taxi back to their hotel.

Estonia generally enjoyed Lithuania's company, he was pretty much the only genuinely nice person that Estonia knew. In a way Estonia idolised him, but Lithuania was also modest and kind, someone who Estonia enjoyed spending time around when he could. However, the taxi ride back to the hotel was fairly awkward. Estonia occasionally tried to make polite conversation, but was mainly being ignored. With anyone else, Estonia would brush this off as rudeness or grumpiness, however, he was getting more and more concerned about Lithuania's quiet demeanour. Just as he was about to ask, Lithuania spoke

"What time do you leave tomorrow?" he asked, still looking as though he was distracted.

"I have to get to the airport for midday," Estonia replied "So perhaps eleven? I'm going with Latvia."

"Good," Lithuania muttered "Would you like to have breakfast with me? At the hotel café?" he questioned "I have something to ask of you." He looked down at his feet, as though embarrassed at having to ask for something.

"Sure," Estonia tried to sound warm, although he wasn't so good at the whole comforting people thing. "Anything for you," he inwardly cringed. Lithuania looked strangely pleased at the last statement, even giving a small nervous smile.

The taxi stopped outside the hotel and the two made their way inside and to their rooms. Despite his tiredness and enthusiasm for rest, Estonia didn't sleep well that night, he was too busy thinking about Lithuania, and what his request could be.


	2. Rambling Explanations

It had always amused Estonia that, despite England's staunch anti-France attitude, every single British hotel he had visited had offered a French-style breakfast. Personally, Estonia himself preferred a bowl of porridge (although it was never made as well as the stuff back at his home), but it still made him chuckle when he saw a line of British people queuing for their breakfast croissant.

It was over one of these mishmash breakfasts that Estonia was meeting Lithuania. The latter looked, in the kindest way possible, terrible. He looked as though he hadn't slept in years, his hair uncombed and his shirt untucked, although the most concerning thing was probably his worried, or perhaps even scared, expression. Estonia had faired mildly better, eventually falling to a sleep plagued by dreams of foul-mouthed rice cakes.

After the inevitable polite greetings, both nations took a seat either side of a small table, Lithuania holding a cup of coffee (he wouldn't drink it, he never did), whilst the only thing Estonia held was an air of tired confusion. They sat in silence, obviously wanting the other to speak first.

"Well…" Lithuania broke the silence "I'm here to ask you a favour," he looked apologetic. "I want you to think about this carefully, please don't let me pressure you into a quick decision. Only agree with me if you're really, really, _really_ sure about this," he spoke strongly, looking Estonia in the eye.

"I understand," Estonia nodded his head, intrigued. Generally he wouldn't be overly concerned with other people's business, but Lithuania's warnings only made him more curious.

"I need help with getting something back from someone," Lithuania awkwardly continued. He then frowned, as if annoyed with himself, and gripped his coffee cup a little tighter, making his knuckles whiten.

"Could I perhaps have a little more information?" Estonia asked, barely hiding his annoyance with the vague explanation. "Why can't you ask for it back yourself?"

Estonia couldn't think of anyone who would prefer to talk to him rather than Lithuania, he considered himself to be a little closer to a few of the Nordic nations than Lithuania was, but those guys were easily approachable. Everyone else was more likely to be closer to Lithuania, who, despite his weak outward appearance, wasn't shy, and could easily arrange a meeting with whoever had this possession of his. Estonia couldn't think of a reason as to why he was needed in any of this.

Lithuania sighed, looking especially tired as he started explaining.

"I've been thinking about this for a long time," Lithuania spoke quietly and cautiously, staring into the rapidly cooling cup of coffee. There was a short silence before he spoke again, his voice still barely more than a mutter. "I'll tell you the full story," he furrowed his brow, "Then you might not think me quite as mad." He smiled a little, before closing his eyes briefly and taking a deep breath.

Estonia was getting reeled in by Lithuania's ploddingly paced story. He leaned forward a little, genuinely interested in what was going to be said.

"A fairly long time ago, when I was young and too reckless for my own good, I was given a gift by a fellow nation. Or rather…" the corner of Lithuania's mouth twitched in a strange pseudo-smile, "It was given to me in the same way as a gift would."

"In reality, it was the sting of an insult, issued by a boastful enemy who thought using naught but their pride. They dared to insult me and my people, but they realised their mistake as their insults turned on them, and their gift was used to help me achieve success, a victory of humility over pride," Lithuania looked serene, his eyes slightly glazed over. He paused for a moment, lost in reverie.

"This gift became well known and was put to use by my bosses for a great many years, with the stipulation that it would return to me after its usefulness was depleted. It was more than a simple artefact, it was a trophy, a symbol, a uniting force between my partner and me," Lithuania sat up a little straighter, losing his dreamy appearance and projecting his voice more clearly.

"However, since it was not in constant use, the gift was placed in a treasury. Unfortunately, the place where it was being stored was looted, perhaps ironically, by the nation who originally gave it to me. Luckily, they were an idiot, and due to the fact that their gift had little use or monetary value, it was left alone. The treasury as a whole, though, was lost. I was aware of the object's location, but felt myself unable to do anything about it, despite how much it meant to me," Lithuania looked frustrated, but also a little sad, as he talked about this.

"Later on, though, the treasury was once again raided and the gift taken. I was extremely distracted and disorganised during that period, it was a very bad time for me, but I felt my luck had changed when it was sold on to a wealthy collector, with a well-known location. However, my hopes were dashed when it got taken once again, apparently for the last time. Records dictate that its whereabouts are a complete mystery, that its destruction is a foregone conclusion. However," Lithuania looked up at Estonia once again, a small smirk on his face, "I am aware of its location."

Once Estonia was sure that Lithuania's story was finished, he began his questioning,

"Where?" he asked, perhaps even more confused than when the conversation had started, "What are you even talking about? What is this gift? And couldn't you just go and claim it, surely you must have some sort of proof?"

"Vaguely." Lithuania laughed a little, perhaps wishing the situation was as simple as that. "But its current guardian isn't known for his overwhelming generosity."

"Okay," Estonia was getting exasperated, "What is this gift you're talking about?"

"A sword," Lithuania simply replied.

"A sword? An expensive and valuable sword?" Estonia quizzed, making a vain attempt at finding some sort of logical answer.

"No," Lithuania replied, shaking his head sadly. "It has a lot of… sentimental value," he fidgeted, no longer looking Estonia in the eye. His attempt to make himself not seem crazy was not working so well.

"So, where is it?" Estonia finally asked, sighing. "I suppose if it's not too much bother I could help you out. I'm finding this whole thing illogical, but it seems to mean a lot to you."

"Do you recall that week when we were at Russia's and he hid us in the storage outhouse to escape from the winter?" Lithuania spoke quietly, perhaps trying not to spook Estonia.

Estonia was wide eyed,

"You don't mean…"

"I found it when we were looking for blankets to keep warm," Lithuania was now whispering. If the words were ones which Estonia had actually wanted to hear then he was sure that they would have been drowned out by the other breakfast-goers. "I thought maybe you could…"

"You want me to help you steal from Russia?" Estonia was more than shocked, he was actually mildly angry. He trusted Lithuania, considered him a good friend, not some foolish risk taker. "Sorry, but I'm not suicidal. I'm not doing this, and I'm going to try my hardest to dissuade you."

"I'm doing it no matter what," Lithuania once again spoke strongly "It's been over half a century since I found it, and I still haven't done anything about the situation. I don't want to lose it again."

"I asked you because you're knowledgeable about the layout of Russia's house, and also because I trust you. If you do not wish to help me, I shall concede, but please do not try to stop me." Lithuania's strong gaze set upon Estonia.

"I want no part of this," Estonia stood up, ready to leave the breakfast room despite his protesting empty stomach, "I won't tell anyone about this conversation, but I strongly discourage you from taking any more action."

"I'm not going to give up," Lithuania spoke in a monotone, gazing up at Estonia.

"I know."

Estonia left the room wishing that he had never entered.


	3. Unwanted Memories

Estonia had lost Latvia. This in itself was not too unusual an occurrence. In the seventies, whilst on a cross-country road trip, Latvia had fallen out of the boot of Russia's car and spent two weeks being taken care of by some strange but otherwise unassuming hippies. However, the current situation was far less convenient for Estonia.

He was in a terminal of London Gatwick Airport, having had a fairly good day. They had sailed through security without Latvia saying anything strange or offensive to anyone. This was bizarre, Latvia's special ability was usually having them detained and taken to a security room whereupon the home nation had to come and bail him out. This was despite their diplomatic passports and the fact that they had a clean travel record.

This was the reason that Estonia had left early. The ease of travel through the airport had given him a false sense of security. He had planned to relax in the business lounge and catch up on some e-mails but instead he had to spend his precious time searching for a childlike pseudo-immortal. It was rather bothering.

Estonia firstly walked to all of the bookshops in the terminal, Latvia had mentioned wanting to get another book for the plane ride. However, Estonia was not surprised in the least when he could find no trace of him. That would have been too easy. Estonia paused a few moments in order to think. According to past experience, Latvia would either be unaware that he was lost and would happily be shopping for snacks or at a bar, or he would have realised that Estonia wasn't with him anymore and would be panicking, most likely getting himself in trouble with security. Estonia sighed. He knew what he had to do.

"Hello," Estonia approached the help desk, "I've lost someone. Could you perhaps put out an announcement?"

"You look a little old to have lost your parents," the assistant, an older woman, half-smiled.

"No," Estonia gave a small chuckle "Just my friend,"

"Alright, what's their name? I'll need yours too."

This stumped Estonia for a moment, he wasn't used to calling Latvia by the name he had given himself.

"His name's Raivis Galante," Estonia continued, hoping that he got that right. "Can you just call me Estonia? It'll get his attention."

The assistant slowly nodded, raising an overly plucked eyebrow. She obviously thought Estonia was a loon. Still, being thought crazy was better than losing Latvia and missing his flight. The assistant put out the announcement, Estonia thanked her and then went to sit on a bench nearby.

Estonia ended up sitting down next to a young boy. He was similar to Latvia in appearance, perhaps a little younger looking.

"Lost your parents?" Estonia kindly asked. The boy nodded, staring at Estonia critically. Estonia ignored him, rummaging in his briefcase for something to read whilst waiting for Latvia to reach his location.

"Hey," the boy spoke up after a minute "You speak funny. Are you Polish?"

This made Estonia start. Although he acknowledged that he had an accent, he was proud of his fluency in English, he had worked hard to obtain it.

"No."

"That's good, my mum hates Polish people. Says that they're stealing all the jobs and shooting all the swans," the boy chatted nonchalantly.

"I did live with a Polish person for a while," Estonia replied, smiling "It was…" He really wanted to say that it was great, or fun, or some other combination of encouraging words designed to wash the boy of his mother's xenophobia, but he also couldn't lie. The smile faded away from his face a little.

"…interesting." Estonia concluded, looking a little crestfallen.

"You didn't like it?" the boy smirked, looking interested nonetheless. Obviously he enjoyed others' tales of woe.

"I had to stay with him for… work," Estonia replied, shrugging "I didn't have much choice in it."

"What's your job?"

"I work for the government," Estonia gave his rehearsed standard reply.

"Like a spy?" the boy was wide-eyed, looking excited.

"More like a politician," Estonia felt a little bad about extinguishing the boy's hopes.

"Oh," the boy collapsed back into his seat "My mum would really hate you."

Estonia was mildly amused, "Although it wasn't that bad, I had other people around me who I could rely on. Well, maybe." Thinking about it, spending time in the Poland-Lithuania household hadn't been so bad.

Estonia had travelled to Poland's house in order to become educated about his duties as a nation and also to be able to spend some time with others in the same situation. He had spent most of his early life either running around the woods or sailing around with Denmark and was keen to learn how to take his role seriously. Unfortunately, it turned out that Poland was not the nation who was most suited to teaching this.

In many ways Poland was ahead of his time. He spoke clearly and concisely regarding political matters, easily disarming opponents and managing to get his points clearly across. He had spread ideas; religious tolerance, pseudo-democratic elections, and the economics of his domain were things he passionately enthused about. Estonia had first met him during a visit from some important humans and was both impressed and a little jealous of his mannerisms. However, Poland was also cursed with a childlike shyness and a lack of common sense. Every day he would either declare that he was going hunting by himself, taking a horse and setting off for the day without any supplies, or shut himself in his room, proclaiming that he had to study and that he wasn't to be disturbed, which was usually accompanied by the slamming of a door. Estonia's jealousy quickly turned into annoyance as Poland displayed his immaturity.

Estonia had almost given up on Poland. Sure, Poland's occasional streaks of brilliance were inspiring, and he was being allowed to live in a huge mansion house, very unlike his own one roomed home, for free, but the whole point of his trip was to learn how to be professional and organised, things which Poland clearly wasn't. He had wanted an inspirational father figure, not a grumpy toddler. It had taken Estonia months to travel to Poland's house and he was getting increasingly homesick. He was going to announce his departure when another nation arrived.

Estonia had met Lithuania before, they had met briefly to discuss matters detailing Livonia. It was actually one of the reasons as to why Estonia wanted to come to Poland. Lithuania talked using phrases which Estonia had never heard, gave off an air of authority, and despite looking rather dainty and feminine, moved with a sense of power and precision which left Estonia awestruck.

The mood in Poland's house changed overnight upon Lithuania's arrival. Rooms which were gathering dust were aired out, staff who usually silently slunk about were giving away cheery greetings like free gifts, even the nearby town seemed to pick up on the good mood. The biggest change, however, was in Poland himself. Instead of sulking about all day he was openly cheerful, laughing and singing all day. The very evening that Lithuania arrived, Poland had offered to help Estonia with studying Polish and Latin, and from that week on Poland took him to political meetings, happily helping him to understand what was going on. Poland changed from bratty annoyance into the inspiring teacher which Estonia had hoped to find. All thanks to Lithuania.

Estonia wasn't completely sure of what exactly Lithuania's relationship with Poland was. From his knowledge of political events, the two had effectively been given no choice but to communicate with each other. Knowing Poland as he did now, Estonia was fairly sure that Lithuania should have become fed up of the child who he was forced to partner with. But he didn't. Somehow the two gave each other caution and confidence; perseverance and imagination; ideas and experience. The two halves came together to make more than a whole.

All through this, Lithuania sat in the background. He cautioned, warned, and stood up for Poland when needed, but never took any credit. Estonia was confused at first. Although both Poland and Lithuania were supposed to be equals, Poland took all the credit. When Estonia had confronted Lithuania about this, he had just shrugged it off, laughing. That was Lithuania's only weakness, he was too nice. Estonia had never known anyone, human or nation, who could be so effortlessly kind. As he sailed through the centuries, and Estonia came to know Lithuania better, his opinion didn't change. There had been times where they had been forced to live together for political reasons, firstly at Poland and Lithuania's house, then later at Russia's; and times where they were at loggerheads, where their personal feelings had to be put aside for the wellbeing of their state, but despite all this, Lithuania had remained constantly kind and thoughtful, never belittling Estonia or gloating over victories. He stayed a welcome presence in Estonia's life, almost like family, comforting and never asking for anything in return.

Until now.

Estonia felt uneasy. Despite all the things that Lithuania had helped him with, he had brushed aside the only favour which Lithuania had ever asked of him. Sure, it may be an idiotic idea, but Estonia trusted Lithuania and had been helped out countless times over the years. For Lithuania to even mention his plan showed its importance.

"Hi there," a voice called. Estonia looked up.

"Where have you been?" he asked the rather sheepish looking Latvia.

"Well, first I wanted to go get something to eat while you were finding somewhere to sit, but then this woman came up to me and asked me to do a survey, so I did that. And then I thought you would be in a shop so I went looking, but then I knocked over a display of make-up and had to spend ages picking them up," Latvia happily chirped.

"Why did you think I would be looking at cosmetics?" Estonia was almost amused.

Latvia just shrugged,

"Well, you are quite sparkly. But I got you something to eat, so forgive me," he smiled "I might have sat on it, though." Latvia handed Estonia a very sad looking sandwich. "Should we go to the lounge?"

"Not enough time," Estonia replied, cheerfully waving goodbye to the receptionist and the small boy, the sandwich had put him into a slightly happier mood, "We'll just go to the gate. I have a phone call to make before I go, though. Please don't wander off while I'm making it."

Estonia kept Latvia within his sights as he found a slightly quieter corner of the airport and took out his phone to dial a number, hoping that the recipient hadn't boarded his flight yet.

"Hello. Estonia?" Lithuania's voice came from the phone. Estonia swallowed.

"I'll do it."

There was silence on the line for a few seconds. Estonia wasn't sure whether Lithuania was shocked, surprised, or perhaps was trying to figure out what he meant.

"I'll see you at the World Meeting." Lithuania replied sharply before lowering his voice to a whisper. "Thank you."

Estonia felt a strange rush of pride from those words. Lithuania was actually thanking _him_, not the other way round.

"Goodbye," Estonia smiled.

"Goodbye."

Three weeks until the World Meeting in Russia. Estonia wished the day would never come.


	4. Nostalgic Search

Estonia hadn't been crawling through undergrowth for a long time, and he didn't think he had ever jumped into a bush in a dinner jacket before. He liked to think that he resembled James Bond, although the wonky-framed spectacles somewhat ruined the look.

In order to access Russia's storage shed, there was a path which passed directly by a window to the main building where the main party was currently taking place. Luckily there was a strategically placed hedge which Estonia and Lithuania were using to crawl past undetected. Unfortunately, despite it being past ten at night, as it was the summer, it was still fairly light outside and both Estonia and Lithuania had to careful as they slowly snuck by the window.

It had been a hectic week at the world meeting. The meetings themselves weren't the worst part, Estonia actually enjoyed meeting up with nations he hadn't seen for a long time, and as he was the appointed "technology person", he was usually sat far enough away from the others that when a fight broke out, he wasn't caught up in it. What Estonia considered the worst part was that every evening they gathered for a dinner where Russia would invariably make dozens of toasts, making everyone drink vodka until everyone bar himself (and possibly Latvia) was unable to function.

Russia had also invited Estonia and a few select others to stay in his house for the duration of the meeting. At first Estonia very much wanted to refuse, but he realised that drunkenly walking up a flight of stairs was probably less embarrassing and stressful than travelling all the way back to a hotel. He also didn't want to upset Russia, who had the potential to make his life very difficult if he wanted. This meant that he ended up sleeping in a room with Lithuania and, strangely enough, Switzerland, who made the excuse that he wanted to be able to get to the meetings on time. Everyone knew that he just didn't want to pay for a hotel.

"Get down!" hissed Lithuania as he pushed Estonia to the ground. Estonia almost shouted out in surprise, but managed to contain himself as he instinctively rolled under the hedge and lay as still as possible. He wasn't sure what Lithuania had seen, but knew well enough to not question anything until he was given the signal that it was safe to move again. Listening carefully, he heard the footsteps on the gravel behind him, not too far away from his hiding place. The footsteps belonged to someone light and fairly short, the heels of the shoes were low, so it was likely to be a male nation. Perhaps one of the Asian males?

Estonia turned his head slowly, being careful not to make any noise. The sound of the footsteps stopped and Estonia heard a person sigh before he was able to discover who it was. Estonia managed to turn his head and focus his eyes well enough to recognise that the culprit, now leaning against the wall on the outside of Russia's house, was Japan.

Estonia was initially suspicious, had Japan seen them and come after them? But it didn't seem as though he was looking for them, instead he was leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes, taking a deep breath. He didn't look too good. Stressed? Or perhaps worried about something? Estonia hoped that England hadn't been drugging even more nations.

After a few minutes of stillness, Japan stopped leaning on the wall and stood up, giving himself a small shake before setting off back towards the door to the mansion. Estonia and Lithuania waited for a couple of minutes after the footsteps died out before moving out of their hiding place.

"He didn't look well," Lithuania commented as the two of them turned the corner of the large house, reaching the storage shed.

"I don't blame him," Estonia replied "I'm not exactly feeling my best after the past week." In all honesty, it was a bit bizarre to see Japan like that, he usually he had an aura of calm about him, replying noncommittally and bowing deeply to everyone's greetings before politely excusing himself from answering any difficult questions. However, this time he really did look genuinely pale and ill.

"Anyway," Estonia got back to the task at hand "How are we going to get in?" He eyed the solid door to the large outhouse. He hadn't really discussed the plan much with Lithuania, they hadn't wanted to be overheard.

"I don't think this has ever been locked," shrugged Lithuania as he pulled the large handle of the door. It squeaked dangerously but as they were a fair distance away from the house they weren't overly worried about being heard. The two of them snuck inside and shut the door behind them.

Estonia was a little less worried now, the part where they were most likely to be noticed was over. He followed Lithuania's lead, reaching into his inside pocket, pulling out a small torch and turning it on. He shone it around the vaguely familiar room, picking out objects in it. The room they were currently in was merely an entrance way, although it had a few pieces of farm equipment stored in the corner. It smelled horribly musty, probably having not been set foot in for decades. Cobwebs whose inhabitants had long since died adorned the corners and ceiling of the room. The window was so disgustingly mucky that Estonia had no worries about anyone seeing the light of his torch from the outside.

"We need to go downstairs," Lithuania clearly stated. Estonia nodded, although he doubted that Lithuania could see his reaction due to the murk. The pair walked around the edge of the room so as to avoid any weak floorboards and went into the hallway where the hatch to the cellar was. The hatch was very heavy, they had to work together to lift it up. They then carefully descended the wooden staircase to the room below.

Calling the lower floor of the storehouse a cellar wasn't doing it justice. It was probably larger than the actual upper part of the house. It consisted of a long hallway with many rooms branching out and was strangely maze like. Estonia almost suggested that they perhaps should take a ball of string to unravel behind them.

"Do you know where the sword is?" Estonia asked.

Lithuania nodded:

"I'm vaguely aware. Follow me," he gestured.

As the floor was now dug into solid earth Estonia didn't have to be too careful about avoiding weak floorboards. He walked along, ducking under cobwebs and low hanging beams and shining the torch's light into the rooms he passed. One of the first rooms, right next to the stairs, was one that Estonia recognised as the one they had all huddled in when Russia had gone into one of his stranger than usual moods and told them to hide from the "spirit of winter". He saw an old radio and a packet of cards sprawled out on the floor. Despite the nervousness he was feeling from being in such a strange place, he remembered the times when he would play cards with Latvia, usually winning unless he was feeling especially generous. Although his time at Russia's house had been overall not such a great experience, he still had a few fond memories.

"I think this is the right one," Lithuania quietly spoke as they stopped at a closed door a little way along the corridor. Estonia noticed that Lithuania was shaking slightly, although he wasn't sure whether it was fear or excitement, most likely a mix of both. Lithuania pushed on the handle of the door. The handle moved, but the door didn't open. Lithuania continued to try a few times more, putting his body weight against the door.

"Should we take a run at it?" Estonia suggested.

"Can't think of anything better," Lithuania shrugged. They both took a few steps back from the door.

"On my count, charge," Lithuania muttered. "Three, two, one…"

They both took two or three steps at a run before their shoulders collided with the door. The door unsurprisingly buckled and the two of them went sailing through, taking the bottom part off its hinges and leaving the top part hanging in the door frame. The two of them lay on the ground, surprised and breathing heavily, not having expected the impact. The door had made a rather loud bang when they hit the floor, and their instincts told them to listen for anyone that had heard them. Once they were sure that they were safe, they stood up.

"Whoever comes here next will know someone's been now," Lithuania said sheepishly, looking at the half-door laying on the ground.

"Nobody will be here for another few decades," Estonia replied "We're safe just now."

The pair then went on to exploring the room. This particular one was piled high with a vast variety of boxes.

"I remember finding the sword in a cupboard," Lithuania spoke "We should look in all of them."

They each took a side of the room and began opening cupboards.

"This one's just a linen closet," sighed Lithuania, half-heartedly lifting up some moth eaten sheets. Estonia turned to the cupboard next to him and opened it. It was full of pictures of Russia's past bosses, all pinned up like a pre-teen girl would hang up pictures of her favourite boy bands.

"This one's more of a Lenin closet," Estonia quipped. He wasn't looking but he was fairly certain that Lithuania gave him a dirty look for that.

Once Estonia had opened all of the cupboards and wardrobes on his side of the room, he went to open the door to the side room. This door was far easier to open than the last one and slid open smoothly. However, Estonia most definitely wasn't ready for what was on the other side.

After cautiously opening the door, Estonia shone his torch up to look around, and found himself face to face with a gigantic creature with gleaming eyes. To his complete shame, Estonia threw his torch in the air, slammed the door shut and ran to the other side of the room. He may also have screamed slightly, but whenever he thought back on this particular adventure, he left that part out.

"What's wrong?" Lithuania, startled from Estonia's reaction, asked urgently.

"There's a _thing_ in there," Estonia, who was beginning to feel a little silly, replied. "It was staring at me."

Lithuania approached the door, picking Estonia's torch up and handing it back to him on the way. He slowly turned the handle and looked round the side of the door. He was silent for a moment before gesturing Estonia over.

"It's okay," he said bemusedly as he opened the door a little further. He could only open it a little as sitting directly on the other side was a gigantic taxidermied polar bear. A gigantic taxidermied polar bear with gleaming eyes. A gigantic taxidermied polar bear with gleaming eyes and sharp teeth. A gigantic taxidermied polar bear with gleaming eyes and sharp teeth and a cardboard cut-out of Vaslav Nijinsky sitting on his back.

"What the hell!?" exclaimed Estonia, a little more loudly than he intended.

"Russia," was Lithuania's only explanation. He managed to squeeze into the room through the small gap and started to look around. Estonia followed him, finding it harder to squeeze through the gap, especially since he was staring a mouldy polar bear in the face.

Lithuania was rifling through another cupboard:

"This is it," Estonia could hear the excitement in Lithuania's voice. "It's in one of these."

Estonia was glad to hear their little adventure was coming to an end.

"Do you mind if I go to look at something else whilst you get it out?" Estonia asked. The cupboard was far too small for both of them to rummage through it and Estonia wanted to go back to the room with the playing cards, just to see what else they had left behind. Lithuania hastily nodded:

"Just don't take anything," he warned "We're not here to steal from him, even if he is Russia."

Estonia thought this rather hypocritical, but agreed before once again squeezing out of the door (the polar bear still gave him the heebie jeebies) and heading down the corridor. Lithuania was making a racket pulling boxes and crates out of the cupboard and searching through them, Estonia could hear him even from the end of the corridor.

Estonia once again reached the room next to the stairs. Looking around it, it was fairly bare apart from the few possessions scattered around. There was the old radio, still switched on but long since out of battery, the pile of playing cards which Latvia had made himself. Estonia smiled, reminiscing, after Latvia had distinguished himself as being Completely Useless at doing housework, he was allowed to do pretty much whatever he wanted, which was mainly drawing pictures and mistakenly making off-hand remarks to everyone from the postman to Russia's bosses.

A pile of blankets lay in the corner, covered in a layer of dust so thick that it was difficult to tell what their original colour was. Finally, on the wall hung a huge flag of the Soviet Union. Estonia frowned a little whilst looking at it. For some reason the dust seemed to have stayed away from it, its bright red still glowing, daring Estonia to do something. Estonia was about to go up to it and drag it down in an uncharacteristically aggressive manner when he heard something. Footsteps.

At first Estonia was fairly sure it was Lithuania, he was about to go back into the doorway to greet him, until he noticed that he could still hear Lithuania dragging boxes around at the end of the hallway whilst the footsteps were coming from the top of the stairs. Estonia's heart leapt into his mouth. They had been discovered. Shit.

Estonia quickly turned his torch off and stood as still as possible, holding his breath and willing his heart to stop beating so loudly. Lithuania was still making lots of noise from the end of the hallway. Estonia silently prayed to any God that would listen in the hopes that Lithuania would become quiet.

Now the footsteps were coming down the stairs. They belonged to a light, probably small person. Japan? Latvia? Estonia heard the click of the heels of the shoes and realised with a disappointment that neither of the above were likely to be wearing ladies' court shoes.

The footsteps were coming past the room now. Estonia was probably just about visible from the doorway. He tried as hard as he could to make himself invisible. It seemed to work as the footsteps went past the room without stopping, either that or the person's eyes were still adjusting to the darkness of the basement area. It didn't appear that they had brought a torch with them.

As soon as Estonia heard the footsteps disappearing to the end of the hallway, he did the only thing he could think of. He ran.

He threw himself up the stairs, running across the floor of the entrance room, no longer worrying about weak floorboards. He sprinted across the garden towards the main house, silently praising that the sun had finally set. Out of breath from his sudden mad dash, he slumped against the wall of the house, nearby to where Japan was leaning earlier.

What the hell what going to happen now?


	5. Wasted Courage

After a moment of rest Estonia took off his jacket and shook it down, trying to remove as many pieces of dirt and dust as possible. He used his hands to brush some muck off his trousers and picked a few twigs out of his hair, straightening his bow tie and attempting to regain his breath. He briefly thought of Lithuania but tried to block the thought out. At times like this the most important person to think about was oneself.

After gathering himself together, Estonia turned the corner of the house to where the back door was. He inwardly groaned when he saw that there was someone outside, smoking a cigarette. The unwanted person turned round as Estonia drew near, having heard his feet crunch over the gravel.

"Hey Estonia!" Poland started "Whoa. You don't look so good."

"I think I fainted," Estonia decided that this was the best excuse as to why he was layered in dirt "I don't feel very well."

"Too much vodka?" an unconcerned Poland asked. "Anyway, earlier I was talking to Germany and…"

Poland began to prattle on about something or other whilst Estonia began to think. What was happening to Lithuania? He did feel a little guilty about having just run away, but at the same time, what else was he going to do? If he had chased after the other person they would both have been caught. A thought suddenly struck him. What if it wasn't another nation after all, but a human, perhaps a thief deciding to use the distraction of the party as a reason to sneak into the shed. Or, a chill ran down Estonia's spine, maybe it was someone, human or nation, or wanted to hurt one of them, and wanted to do it in a place where they wouldn't be found. His heart sped up a little again and he began to feel a little light-headed.

"…and then I said 'War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who's left.'" Poland raised an eyebrow as he waited for Estonia to recognise his witty statement. However, Estonia was distracted and only made a strange noncommittal noise. Poland sighed. When would anyone recognise his genius?

"Anyway, have you seen…?" Poland started talking once again but was soon cut out, eyes widening as he looked over Estonia's shoulder. Estonia followed Poland's gaze and turned round.

Striding along the gravel drive, her usual frown replaced with something which almost resembled an angry smile, was Belarus, and being dragged along behind her was Lithuania, suit crumpled and slashed, covered with a layer of dirt and blood and with his arm sticking out at an odd angle.

"What the hell!?" Poland started, eyes widening in shock. "Let go of him!" he paused, not sure how to react, before running up to the pair. Belarus made a strange noise which sounded somewhat akin to a low growl. She raised her arm, glinting blade in palm, and let it fall upon Poland's head, barely paying any attention to what was happening. Poland gasped, falling to the ground and clutching his face. Belarus pushed on, passing by Estonia, who tried to catch Lithuania's eye. Lithuania's gaze never left the ground as he was pulled past and through the doorway. Estonia watched him for a few seconds before rushing over to Poland.

"Are you okay?" he asked, noticing a rapidly spreading thin red line running across Poland's cheek.

"Evil witch," Poland spat as he stood up, wiping his face with his sleeve and making the mess ten times worse. He regained his orientation and ran into the house. Estonia sighed then followed him inside. Today had been a very long day.

The music stopped abruptly as Belarus and Lithuania stepped into the ballroom, as it usually does when a pretty pale haired girl drags a fairly badly injured semi-immortal into it. There was a stunned silence in which only Austria, upset with the lack of music, tutted. He was quickly made to shut up by Hungary elbowing him in his side.

"Brother," Belarus cleared her throat, looking at the head of the room where Russia was currently frozen mid-dance. "I have found this swivel-eyed loon attempting to steal from you. Trespassing on your property. Scuppering your privacy. Ruining everything you've worked for. Please, brother, tell me what I can do to get rid of it." Belarus was smiling properly now, her eyes lit up like a little puppy trying to please its master.

"What?" Russia started, looking confused. Ukraine, who he had previously been dancing with, let go of him and rushed over, looking worriedly at Lithuania who was teetering dangerously, looking as though he would fall over at any moment.

"Sister!" Belarus snarled, changing back to her usual angry frown "Stay away from this loony fruitcake! Do you not understand? This thing was caught stealing from brother, the man who cared for him for decades!"

If the situation was slightly less serious Estonia would have stifled a laugh at this last claim.

"Where I come from, trespassers leave with an extra orifice," Switzerland spoke calmly.

"You're not helping," England sarcastically drawled, giving Switzerland a disapproving look and rolling his eyes. "I think we can perhaps forgive this as a moment of madness."

"Belarus," Germany managed to get over the suddenness of the situation "Did you injure him?"

"Damn right she did!" Poland rushed through the crowd "I saw it right now!" he exclaimed before starting to draw himself back. "Well, I kinda did. I mean, not _exactly_, I didn't actually see her attack him or anything, but, yea, so, it's kinda implied. Right?" Poland stood sheepishly at the front of the crowd, getting self-conscious as blood continued to dribble down his cheek.

"Poland, please stay out of this," Lithuania mumbled, breaking his silence.

"What does it matter when this uneducated peasant here had been caught taking the property of other people?" Belarus hissed "Do you not think a little bloodshed is the least it deserves?"

"Be quiet Belarus," Russia shirtily demanded. The whispering which had been building up around the room quickly died out as everyone turned their heads to face Russia. His expression then changed from annoyance to genuine confusion. "Lithuania, did you really steal from me?"

'_Please don't say anything stupid,'_ Estonia wished.

Lithuania lifted his head slowly, his hair and dress shirt completely soaked in blood.

"I tried to," he spoke quietly, but the sound travelled well due to the stillness of the air in the room.

"B…but, we're friends," Russia stuttered in disbelief. "We are friends, are we not?"

"No, Russia. We're not friends."

'_Damn it.'_

Russia just stood still, perhaps in disbelief. In fact, Russia almost looked as though he was going to cry, his face going red and his eyes quivering a little. Then his expression suddenly switched, his brow furrowed and his voice boomed, sharply cutting its way towards Lithuania

"Fine, we are not friends. You will leave my house. Immediately."

Estonia had never seen Russia like this. He usually stayed calm whilst threatening bloody murder to his enemies, his threatening aura doing most of the work for him, but this time he looked genuinely angry, even shaking a little as he continued to stare at Lithuania, who, to his credit, was looking him back straight in the eye.

"But, brother…" Belarus tried to protest, most likely thinking a lynching would be a more appropriate punishment.

"Be quiet," Russia demanded, seething. "Get out of my house now," he looked at Lithuania. It was like watching a toddler having a tantrum over having his favourite toy being taken away.

Belarus, defeated, dropped Lithuania's arm, allowing him to take one last look at Russia before he slumped out of the door. Russia watched him leave before storming off upstairs in a temper, Belarus quickly following on his tail.

"Is the party over?" a disappointed Spain asked sadly. It seemed that most people did seem to think that the party was over, and were leaving out of the door, nattering away like they had just watched a particularly interesting episode of a soap opera.

Hungary had ripped half a sleeve off her dress and was using it to wipe Poland's face.

"No, I need to go, like, right now," Poland was trying to pull away from her.

"Stay still, you idiot," Hungary grimaced, successfully pinning Poland down to the floor. "Do you want to get even more blood on your suit?" Poland made a face which seemed to express that he very much did not want to get even more blood on his suit.

"I'll make sure he's alright," Germany directed his speech at Poland "I can get him a room in the hotel I'm staying at. Just fix yourself up, I'll deal with this once I've talked to him."

Poland eyed Germany with suspicion, the two hadn't always been the best of friends.

"Yeah, you better," Poland attempted to be threatening, although this was difficult when you were being straddled by a fairly petite girl who was attempting to clean your face.

Estonia left the place where he was hiding at the back of the hall, quickly running up the stairs, thankful that anyone had yet to comment on his scruffy appearance.

Well, that day could have went a lot better.


	6. Assuming the Worst

Estonia did not sleep well that night. He had spent around half the night wide awake, staring at the ceiling, wracked with guilt. His attempts to get some sleep were ill-fated, having listened to it for the past week, the lack of Lithuania's light breathing was conspicuous. For a while Estonia listened to Switzerland, who seemed to make bizarre sounds in his sleep, Estonia was fairly sure that he was sleep-yodelling. After another hour or so of insomnia, he came to the conclusion that sleep was going to continue to evade him.

Estonia couldn't stop thinking about how the situation could have played out differently. He cursed his self-preservation. The reason he had originally agreed to this idiotic plan was because he owed Lithuania so much. And Estonia had just run away and abandoned him. Belarus' hate of Lithuania was well known to everyone (except, perhaps, Lithuania himself). If Estonia had also been there she may not have been so violent towards them. Estonia imagined many different situations of how they could have acted, how their plan could have been successful.

Estonia turned over in his bed, making it creak loudly. He reached for his phone and immediately brought up the contact details for Lithuania, thumb hovering over the call button. He stared at the screen for a while before putting it back down and sighing. It was completely the wrong time to call. Hopefully Lithuania would be sleeping off his injuries right now. Estonia felt a flutter of nervousness as he realised that he didn't actually know whether Germany had found Lithuania and got him a hotel room. Some friend he was, unaware of Lithuania's location. Estonia wouldn't be surprised if Lithuania never spoke to him again. He resolved to apologise to him tomorrow.

The rest of the night crept by slowly. As usual, Switzerland woke at the crack of dawn, complaining about the temperature of the room. He was easily comforted with the reminder that the free breakfast would be served soon, and ended up playing a game of chess with Estonia in order to pass the time. Switzerland wasn't so bad, Estonia had become somewhat closer to him over the course of the week and he had grown in Estonia's opinion. He was insane, but so was everyone else.

At the more civilised time of six o'clock, the two of them descended the stairs for the breakfast room. Estonia could hardly eat, whilst Switzerland strategically made his way around the buffet table, making lunch to take home with him, although with the amount of food he was taking, he could probably feed himself for the upcoming week.

"Frugality is the highest of virtues," Switzerland commented to a curious Estonia.

"I don't doubt it."

After a rather pathetic attempt at eating some sort of breakfast, Estonia made his way back upstairs and started throwing things haphazardly into his suitcase. He unceremoniously stuffed all of his clothing and paperwork and electronics away before starting on packing Lithuania's possessions into their proper place. Lithuania had not had any time to pack before his swift exile the previous evening and therefore needed to leave all of his things behind. Estonia packed Lithuania's suitcase with much more care than he packed his own, making sure that Lithuania would be in possession of the appropriate paperwork and frowning at the decade old laptop which Lithuania used. Estonia hoped that he could return the luggage as a way to meet with Lithuania, hoping that the other wouldn't be so angry that he would refuse to see him.

Estonia looked at his watch, it was almost seven o'clock. Knowing that Lithuania was usually awake at this time, Estonia decided to try calling him. Taking a deep breath, he dialled Lithuania's number, hoping that he would answer. To Estonia's eternal relief, he did.

"I've got your things," explained Estonia after they had exchanged polite greetings, "Can you tell me where you are so I can drop them off?"

Lithuania responded politely, although he wasn't overly talkative. It didn't _seem_ like he was angry. Estonia was almost disappointed, he felt like he deserved all the anger which Lithuania could aim at him.

They arranged a time and place to meet up in. Lithuania was apparently in a hotel near the centre of Moscow. Estonia sighed. Moscow really wasn't his favourite place, and now he would need to get an extra taxi into the city.

After picking up the two cases, Estonia exited the house, feeling grateful that he couldn't see Russia lurking about anywhere. There was an awful lot of traffic outside, more than there usually was for the end of a world meeting. There were even several fairly large articulated lorries parked directly outside Russia's house. Estonia, knowing how bizarre some of his peers could be, didn't particularly want to know what was contained within them.

"Estonia! My best friend!" an unfamiliar voice called out from behind Estonia. He turned round to see a small figure waving at him. Was that China? Now Estonia was confused. He had talked to China a handful of times before, mainly about whether Russia was fairly obeying with his trade agreements, but saying they were best friends was a bit of a stretch. Despite this, on the few occasions that Estonia's boss actually wanted to meet with him, he had expressed a desire for Estonia to be friendly with China. Perhaps this new found friendship with China could earn him an extra holiday.

"Ahh, Estonia," China grinned, shallowly bowing. "You and I should go out for a drink some time," he smiled, "Just us two."

Now this was getting suspicious. Before a few minutes ago, he would be surprised if China even knew who he was, and now they were drinking buddies?

"What's the occasion?" Estonia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No special occasion," China smiled "We could catch up, perhaps do a little business…"

Ah, so China wanted to sell him something. Suddenly everything made sense, China was rather infamous for his business skills, he seemed to specialize in cheap (but still overpriced) knock off tat.

"I'd love to, but I'm meeting up with someone today," Estonia explained "Perhaps another time."

"If you're sure, you'll regret it," China teased before waving goodbye and walking in the direction of the parked lorries. China's cheerfulness and lack of persuasion worried Estonia for a while, he watched him walk away before shaking himself out of his suspicion, he had far more important things to do than wonder which international copyright laws China was going to break today. Finding the taxi he had called for, Estonia put the suitcases into its boot and got into the back seat, it was only a short half hour drive to the centre of Moscow, and he was beginning to get nervous.

Estonia stood in the foyer of the hotel Lithuania was staying in, nervously tapping his foot. He was genuinely a little afraid at the prospect of finding out that Lithuania was angry with him and had been practising his apology on the taxi ride over to the hotel.

"There you are," Lithuania kindly called from behind Estonia. Looking round, Estonia saw that the majority of Lithuania's cuts had healed, although there was still a white bandage wrapped tightly around the lower part of his right arm and his shoelaces were untidy, as though he was unable to tie them properly.

"I'm so sorry," Estonia burst out "I'm sorry for abandoning you, I'm sorry for not standing up for you last evening, I'm sorry for acting like I don't care about you, I'm…"

Lithuania laid a hand on Estonia's shoulder.

"Don't be sorry for anything. It's my own stupid fault," he grimaced, "I was so fixated on that thing that I put you in danger, I'm sorry. Please just forget about it. It would be best if we did not speak of this again."

Estonia was getting quite annoyed that Lithuania was the one apologising to him, he had carefully composed this dramatic apology on the way over to the hotel. All for nothing.

"But…" Estonia stuttered "You weren't doing anything wrong. You weren't trying to steal anything," there was a touch of anger in Estonia's voice, "Please don't just give up."

"Just forget about it," Lithuania repeated, a sad smile crossing his face "Thank you for bringing my luggage over, I should apologise to my boss now. Annoying Russia was not one of my better decisions," he sighed.

Lithuania thanked Estonia once more before making for his room, leaving Estonia feeling extremely unsatisfied. He was annoyed about the lack of justice. Lithuania was the one who had been wronged, why should he be the one punished yet again?

Estonia made his way outside the hotel, wandering for a while before finding a low wall to sit upon. He had to think and clear his mind. Lithuania, the man who had been kind to him for hundreds of years, who never wanted anything, who unconditionally treated everyone with respect whilst others depended on and used him, was being punished for trying to take back something which was rightfully his. Estonia didn't like this, in fact, he even felt uncharacteristically angry. Before stopping to think his actions through properly, he took his phone out of his pocket and found the contact he was looking for.

"Hello, Russia, it's Estonia, will you be needing any help cleaning up after the meeting?"

He was going back in.


	7. Liberation

Russia's house was a complete mess. Estonia hadn't noticed so much earlier in the day when he was in a mad rush to get out of the place, but now that he was the one who actually had to clean up, it was a truly intimidating sight. The worst room was probably the ballroom, full of a mountain range of mess left over from the party the night before, but the several large meeting rooms were almost as bad, and the six or seven bedrooms used weren't exactly pristine. He almost cried in relief when he discovered that the company which had been hired for catering had left the kitchen in a half-acceptable condition.

Russia himself was, strangely enough, in a fairly good mood. When Estonia arrived, he had been greeted politely, before being ordered to start work. Estonia had then seen Russia in various places around the house, whistling whilst looking at a painting, or reading a book whilst humming nonchalantly, or rearranging his vast collection of "special edition" vodka bottles (all of which were empty). Estonia was glad to see that Russia was looking happy, although it would have been nice to have him actually help to clean his own house.

It was getting towards the evening, perhaps nine o'clock, when Russia found Estonia sweeping up a broken glass in the ballroom. By this time, due to his lack of sleep the night before, Estonia's eyelids were drooping and he was feeling a little dizzy and forgetful, he therefore jumped out of skin when Russia spoke,

"Perhaps we should stop for the night?"

"Good idea," Estonia quickly agreed after recovering from his fright. "I have to leave early tomorrow, though." He had no intention of staying in Russia's house long enough for the proprietor to realise that he had also stolen from him. In fact, with all the work he was doing, he hadn't even thought much about his spur-of-the-moment decision to steal the sword from Russia. The only thing he knew for definite was that the plan was ridiculous. He didn't even know what the sword looked like, for goodness' sake.

"Should we have a drink?" Russia smiled.

Oh no, the last thing which Estonia wanted at this moment was for Russia to attempt to drug him, invariably making him more tired and idiotic than he already was. Throughout the week he had managed to avoid consuming too much vodka, through such childish feats as pouring it in plant pots and giving it to Latvia.

"I would love to," Estonia smiled back. There were some situations for which there was no escape.

The pair made their way to the library. Russia's library was a strange room, filled from floor to ceiling with nothing but volumes of well-thumbed children's fairy tales. There was also a secret entrance which activated by pulling a certain book out of a specific bookcase. This led to another room filled with various documents and important works, but Estonia didn't let Russia know that he was aware of this.

In a corner of this room was a coffee table with a set of expensive and old looking leather armchairs, where the two nations sat down. Russia pulled a few books out of a shelf to reveal a stash of vodka bottles carefully stacked behind. He opened a bottle and poured a glass for each of them.

"Wow, that's really clever," Estonia gestured towards the books which were hiding the vodka bottles, "Could you show me how that works?"

Russia, taken aback but somewhat happy, stood up and turned round towards the shelf. Estonia stood up and followed him, quickly depositing the glass of vodka in a conveniently placed paper bin. After nodding and pretending to follow Russia's every word as he explained how, since the majority of solid things were opaque, a few books could easily hide a bottle.

"Intriguing," Estonia responded, barely hiding his sarcasm.

They sat back down and Russia, who luckily did not question how Estonia's glass had emptied so quickly, poured them both another drink. They chatted away for a little while, mainly about the meeting, avoiding the elephant in the room which was the previous evening. Every time Russia turned away for a few seconds, Estonia managed to find a place to dump his constantly refilling glass of vodka.

"I don't have any friends," Russia suddenly sadly announced, taking Estonia by surprise.

"I'm sure that's not true…" Estonia said, trying not to show his uncertainty. He was very sure that it was true.

"I wanted to hold this meeting so that I could make friends, but it all went wrong. China tried to sell me cursed merchandise. My sisters are either terrifying me or running away from me. England tried feed me. France jumped into a rose bush while naked just to avoid me. America tells me I am fat. Germany gives me the shifty eyes. The Italies cry when they see me. Lithuania…" Russia trailed off "I thought Lithuania was my best friend."

If it wasn't so tragic, Estonia would have laughed. Russia was genuinely only just realising that not everybody in the world was his friend. Estonia had a sudden self-destructive urge to just agree with Russia's conclusions just to see what happened. However, since Estonia did prefer Russia when he was in a non-murdery mood, he was going to be proactive.

"You need to get over him," Estonia's voice took on a strict tone, "Think of all the things he did which annoyed you, do you remember the time that he forgot to water the flowers? Or that time he left the radio on all night? There're lots of better people out there who could be your friend, plenty of fish in the sea. You need to distance yourself from him, get yourself a new hobby, get plenty of sleep, talk to your non-insane relatives. Eat well, don't drink so much, live your life without them, write letters, get rid of things which remind you of him," Estonia smiled a little, pleased with himself, all that time that he had spent reading Latvia's God-awful romance novels was finally paying off.

Russia was quiet in thought for a few moments, Estonia tensed, not sure whether or not he was about to be thrown out a window. Then, Russia smiled,

"I'm so happy. You were always my least favourite, but now I like you a little bit more."

"Thank you?"

"You are right, I can't think about him," Russia looked determined, "I shall get you a gift."

"Oh no, that's quite alright," Estonia tried to resist, although that was always going to fail. Russia got up and lightly skipped out of the room. At least he looked happy.

Anyway, now that Russia was away Estonia could get rid of his latest glass of vodka. He really didn't want to be drunk when attempting to stealthily sneak out of the house. He leaned forward to pick up the glass. Then it happened. Seemingly in slow motion, Estonia picked up the glass, not getting a good grip on it. As he raised it to look around for a good place to empty it, it left his hand and was set free. It happily spun through the air, making a majestic arc, a beautiful parabola, a marvellous rondure, before landing haphazardly, spilling its contents onto Estonia's crotch.

Estonia picked up the glass in a rapidly escalating panic. Why was today the day he had decided to wear grey? To add insult to injury, this was the exact moment when Russia chose to re-enter the room.

"I have brought you a bottle of vodka to cement our frendsh…" Russia cut himself out, his smile fading away to a look of bemused confusion, "Have you become incontinent?"

"U…um," Estonia stuttered, "Too much to drink, I'd better get to bed." He got up and attempted to shuffle out of the room, passing by Russia on the way out. He knew that Russia would probably think alcohol wastage a far worse crime than urinating oneself. Estonia could only hope that Russia wouldn't tell anyone, although he didn't have much faith in the assumption.

"Good night," a perplexed Russia called out, still clutching the bottle of vodka.

* * *

Estonia, after changing into some different trousers, lay in bed until he could hear Russia's heavy snoring. The noise he made shook the entire house in a somewhat similar manner to a mild earthquake. When he had first come to live with Russia, a very long time ago, these snores annoyed him greatly. However, he soon realised that the snoring was an effective way of telling when all was safe in the house.

By this time, night had already fallen outside, the world covered in a black blanket. Estonia got up and checked his pockets, making sure that he had remembered to pick up the torch. He made a brief attempt to stuff pillows underneath the duvet to make it look as though he was still lying in bed. It didn't really work, but it made him feel a little safer. He briefly wondered whether he really should be taking things from a man who he had just agreed to be friends with. Estonia shook his head, trying to get his mind sorted out. Lithuania's happiness was far more important to him than Russia's.

Estonia crept down the stairs, avoiding the creaky one and being careful not to knock down any of the numerous ornaments dotted around the hallway. He grabbed a coat from a pile on the floor for warmth and then made his way to the back door, all whilst listening to the comforting sounds of Russia's grating snores.

Estonia unlocked and opened the back door, pocketing the key and closing it as quietly as possible. He then made his way around the side of the house, avoiding walking on the noisy gravel as much as he could. Then he started walking towards the outhouse, heart rate rising all the while. He then turned the corner of the building, getting to the point where he could see the shed, or at least he should have been able to. The outbuilding appeared to have vanished.

Estonia was confused. Did he mistake the location of the house? He really doubted it, he couldn't have forgotten the shed even if he tried. He continued walking towards where the outbuilding should have been.

As he neared the area, he realised that the shed wasn't completely gone, merely flattened. Pieces of brick and wood lay scattered around the area as though some sort of battle had recently taken place and the shed was on the losing side. Estonia got closer to the ruins, realising that the floor had been completely knocked through, not too surprising considering the state of it. But the state of the building wasn't the worst part.

Its contents were also completely gone.


	8. Dubious Statements

Estonia had spent a long time trying to find a way in which he could ask Russia of the whereabouts of the storage shed's contents without seeming overly suspicious. His pondering, however, was interrupted when Russia burst into his room armed with an overloaded tray of tea and toast. Apparently he wanted to eat breakfast with his new friend, although he seemed to be more effective at scaring the living daylights out of said friend.

Estonia gladly accepted the offered breakfast, still trying to think of a way to draw the conversation round to the missing contents of the shed. Russia sat on the end of his bed, gazing at Estonia in a way which seemed to be his own unique manner of showing affection. It was rather like being stared down by a large, hungry bear.

After attentively listening to Russia's rambling tales of dishwasher vodka, vodka shampoo, and the dangers of accidently drinking Polish vodka, Estonia decided to try his luck at questioning.

"Your house seems emptier than it was before. Have you moved anything?" Estonia tried to be vague in the hopes of making Russia tell an elaborate story.

"You cleaned it yesterday," a slightly confused Russia replied, lifting the empty breakfast tray. "Have you lost something?"

"No," Estonia replied, perhaps a little too quickly, "Just wondering," he hesitantly smiled.

Russia seemed to accept this response, leaving the room and threatening Estonia with his swift return. Estonia took this as a chance to quickly get changed into some daytime clothes and throw all his possessions into his small suitcase.

He wondered what he would do if he could not find out where the contents of the storehouse had gone. There had been tyre tracks around the wreckage of the building, suggesting that the contents had been transported rather than merely destroyed, although the state of the building itself meant that Estonia didn't have much faith that the objects would be in a good condition. He could, of course, ask some of the nations who were present at the world meeting. Surely one of them would know what happened to the outbuilding. However, Estonia was aware that this was not a viable option. If he began asking around at random, someone was bound to tell Russia about his interest in the outhouse where Lithuania was found. As Russia had so kindly pointed out yesterday, Estonia wasn't one of his favourites, and he really didn't want to get on the wrong side of him, it would make life extremely difficult, and his boss would be annoyed. Of course, he could just give up, but a combination of the guilt he felt towards the way he abandoned Lithuania, and the fact that he had somewhat bravely returned to Russia's house and had yet to make any progress gave him the determination to continue, even if it was against his better judgement.

Estonia once again thought back to the end of the meeting. The shed must have been destroyed at some point between when he left Russia's house to visit Lithuania and when he returned, leaving a window of around three hours. What had happened before he left the house? He had been so nervous about his meeting with Lithuania that he hadn't paid much attention to his surroundings. There had been a lot of traffic, which wasn't too unusual, everyone was leaving. Thinking back, it was mostly taxis which adorned Russia's driveway. Actually, there had been a large amount of large lorries around Russia's house. At the time, Estonia had attributed this as the nations taking away whatever bizarre possessions they thought it would be a good idea to bring, but thinking about it, this didn't make much sense. Only a select few nations actually stayed at Russia's house, with the rest staying in Moscow and commuting daily, there would be no reason for them to bring anything large to the meeting place. The catering which Russia had hired had left earlier in the day and had not brought anything large either. The only conclusion Estonia could come to was that the contents of the outhouse had been taken away in the lorries.

Estonia carried his luggage downstairs, meeting a smiling Russia on the large staircase. Estonia paused for a moment, hoping that his curiosity about the vehicles wasn't going to rile Russia's suspicions.

"When I was leaving, there were a lot of large lorries around. Do you know who they belonged to?"

Russia was quiet for a few moments. Estonia was glad to see that he looked thoughtful rather than angry.

"China probably needed them," Russia spoke fairly quietly, no bounce in his voice, "He had a lot of things."

"What things?" asked Estonia, slightly panic stricken. He remembered meeting China on his way out to his taxi at the end of the world meeting. At the time this hadn't seemed suspicious, Russia and China seemed to be fairly close, they were neighbours, so they had to be, so it hadn't seemed unusual for China to be hanging around outside Russia's house. However, it did seem a bit strange for China to be there at that moment in time. He hadn't been staying at Russia's house and he had been present at the week's meetings, so had plenty of time to converse with Russia during the week. For these reasons it now appeared to Estonia that China's appearance was out of place.

"Why do you ask?" Russia asked with suspicion, looking at Estonia out of the corner of his eye whilst the two walked side by side to the front door.

"Oh, no reason," Estonia nervously chuckled, trying to conjure up a good excuse, "Just trying to make sure that he's not trying to sell you anything dodgy."

"China would never do that," Russia talked in a sing-song manner, "China is very nice to me. He lets me stay at his house and eat his food. He sometimes runs away though, so I never tell him when I'm planning on a visit," Russia finished happily.

Estonia didn't know how to reply to this, although he hoped that Russia's new found affection for him wouldn't lead to similar treatment.

Russia walked Estonia to the front door, giving him a bear hug in which his scarf seemed determined to strangle Estonia, before waving goodbye. Estonia sheepishly began to walk along the driveway, wondering what he should do. His sketchy amateur detective work seemed to indicate that China was at least somewhat involved, so it seemed like a good idea to begin by contacting him.

Estonia took his phone out, looking through his contacts in search of China's details. He didn't think he had ever contacted China before, he was almost excited at having a reason to contact such a powerful nation. According to his calculations, it was early evening in Beijing at the moment, assuming that was where China was. Estonia hoped China wasn't busy right now. He pressed the call button and raised the phone to his ear, taking shelter behind a wall so that the light wind wouldn't make his call difficult to hear.

"Yeah, hi," an English speaking voice which was most definitely not China answered.

"Hello, this is Estonia calling, is China available?" Estonia tried to be polite. He had a short moment of worry as he wondered whether he had contacted the wrong number and had just asked a random human whether a landmass could talk. Luckily his worries did not come to fruition as the person on the end of the line answered,

"He's kinda stuck in an antique shop," the voice, which seemed to speak with a slight English accent, commented.

"Excuse me? An antique shop?"

"Yeah, we went in there to sell a vase so we could afford all the candles for his birthday cake, but the owner collects old china stuff so wouldn't let China leave before trying to value him. I can't sell him though, his birth certificate expired, like, a couple of millennia ago," the voice was slightly muffled by some background noise. It seemed like there was a loud argument going on in the background.

Estonia wasn't sure whether to be amused or worried by this tale. The voice was fairly serious and although the story was ridiculous, Estonia couldn't help but feel a little convinced. He was about to express his concern when there was a loud crackling on the line and a second voice appeared. At first it spoke angrily in some Chinese language, appearing to be arguing with the first voice. Unfortunately, Estonia couldn't understand what they were saying, although he was amused nonetheless.

"Please ignore the idiot child," the new voice pleaded, "Is that you, Estonia?"

"China?" Estonia was relieved to finally be talking to the person he had wished to contact in the first place.

"It's me," China sighed, before perking up as he continued "I thought you would be calling me soon."

"Yes," Estonia cringed as he continued. Was China aware of his situation? He decided to be upfront, China seemed to care more about money than he did his relationships with other nations.

"I believe you have something which I wish to buy."

"I think I do," Estonia could hear the glee in China's voice, "Come to my house, I'll make sure you can come into the country easily. I'll even pay for your plane ticket."

Estonia was surprised at China's generosity, and was also increasingly suspicious. China seemed overly enthusiastic about the whole situation. Was there something other than money that he wanted?

"If I can get a flight, I can be at yours by early morning tomorrow," Estonia decided to take advantage of China's unexpected kindness.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you can get one," China comforted, "I treat my clients well."

Estonia wasn't sure that he wanted to be treated as a client, but felt that he had little choice. He told China that he would make his way to the airport before exchanging partings with him.

Estonia got in the taxi which he had phoned for,

"Can you take me to Sheremetyevo airport?" he asked.

The taxi driver nodded and they drove off, Estonia hoping that China's generosity would continue for a while longer.


	9. Sword Seeker

China's house was certainly a beautiful structure. The building itself was abundantly decorated, with elegant carvings and lattices adorning its doorways whilst its curved tiled roof was painted a bright red, the wood underneath it continuing the refined carvings. The building was surrounded by a large, peaceful garden, dotted with various varieties of trees and ponds. This garden, in turn, was surrounded by a tall, sturdy wall, probably originally built to keep out attackers. Estonia thought enviously about how useful a similar wall would be at his own house.

The driver which China had sent to pick up Estonia from the airport had dropped him off outside the large front gate of the house. Here he was met by a short, slouching teenage-looking boy who smelled faintly of gunpowder. He wore some sort of traditional dress, although around his neck he also wore an overly large pair of headphones which didn't appear to be plugged into anything. Estonia was able to tell that he was a nation, although he was unsure of quite which one. His eyebrows suggested that he had a touch of the Englands.

"You're the one China's going to rip off?" Estonia immediately recognised the boy's voice as the person who he had spoken to on the phone the previous morning.

"I guess so," Estonia uneasily smiled, shrugging.

The boy nodded, opening the heavy gate with relative ease and showing Estonia into the grounds of the house. They walked through a short portion of the building before arriving at another open, well decorated courtyard area. It was very different to the European settlements which Estonia was used to. After this, a door on the side of the courtyard was opened up to reveal a large, sparsely decorated room. In the middle of this room, China sat at a table, wearing a long red silk robe. He gave off a very traditional, professional image, although this was somewhat ruined by the plastic Hello Kitty wristwatch he was wearing.

"Estonia!" China happily smiled as he stood up, leaning forward to shake Estonia's hand, "I'm so happy to see you."

Estonia wasn't sure that he returned the feeling, but he tried to act enthusiastically as he exchanged greetings, firmly shaking China's hand.

"Now, to business!" China enthusiastically threw his hands up as he took a seat behind the table and gestured for Estonia to do the same. The small boy who had guided Estonia in lounged around, leaning on the door which Estonia had entered from.

"I believe you received some goods from Russia," Estonia begun. "I have an interest in one of the items."

China nodded in agreement, raising a hand to gesticulate with as he began to talk,

"It was such a shame to see such valuable antiques being destroyed," China spoke slowly, enunciating clearly. "I couldn't just let Russia destroy such objects, so I was very happy when he let me take them away. Which object is your interest in?"

This confused Estonia for a little while, he was not aware that Russia was trying to destroy the objects, although the state of the annexe in which they were housed seemed to suggest that this could have been the case. He made an attempt to cover his confusion as he replied.

"I'm looking for a sword, fairly plain, European," he made a guess with most of the description, having not actually seen the item in question.

China seemed to find his description equally vague.

"Go to the storage room with Hong Kong," he spoke, narrowing his eyes and looking out over his clasped hands. "Once you have found it, we can discuss a price."

Estonia agreed with this, standing up and following the small boy, who apparently was Hong Kong, once again into the courtyard. From here they walked a short way to a different large room, filled from floor to ceiling with wooden crates. Hong Kong rolled up the sleeves of his robe and started to rummage around, looking at various labels which Estonia was unable to read. Estonia resolved to make an attempt to learn Mandarin at some point in the near future.

"These are the swords," Hong Kong mumbled, pulling out several large crates and placing them on the floor.

Estonia rummaged through the boxes, examining the swords. Although he had not been in possession of a sword for a fair while, he was still able to easily identify the different varieties. The majority of them were valuable ceremonial weapons, hilts gilded and huge cross guards embedded with jewels. He opened crate after crate of sheathed rapiers, damaged daggers, and bulky zweihänders. One box contained three heavily rusted swords which, for a moment, made Estonia worried that these were the blades which he was looking for. However, he kept searching and eventually found what he assumed was looking for.

The sword he found was as unimpressive as he anticipated, simple, with its only slightly interesting feature being its slightly chipped gilded hilt. What was impressive about it, however, was that despite being a few centuries old it wasn't tarnished at all.

"This is it," Estonia spoke softly to Hong Kong, who, after huffing around a little, placed the lid back on the crate and led him back to the room where China was waiting.

"You found it," China smiled as Hong Kong heaved the crate onto the table, removing the lid before taking his place back by the door.

China gently took the sword out of its resting place, looking at it thoughtfully whilst Estonia retook his seat on the other side of the table.

"Fifteenth century, Eastern European," China began to evaluate the sword. "I doubt it was used in combat, the hilt was gilded several decades after it was created. A fascinating object," he smiled.

Estonia was fairly sure that China was just trying to confuse him in order to get him to pay more for the sword, although everything that he was saying did seem to be correct. Estonia cleared his throat,

"How much do you want for it?"

China looked up, smiling,

"I haven't had enough time to value everything I was gifted from Russia," he carefully placed the sword back in the box as he looked at Estonia. "I'll have to take a while to decide my price. You can rest in my house until this afternoon. Hong Kong can show you to a room."

Estonia was suspicious of what China would do whilst he was away, but also very tired after all the travelling he had been doing over the past few days. He stood up and followed Hong Kong through the house.

The house was larger than Estonia had realised, with various maze-like hallways darting a multitude of directions, sometimes leading outside to another courtyard or walkway area. It was confusing, Estonia was glad that he had Hong Kong with him, otherwise he would probably be hopelessly lost.

Estonia noticed that Hong Kong had taken his headphones off, letting them hang around his neck. They had been walking in silence thus far, so Estonia felt that it was only polite to start a conversation.

"Do you live with China all the time?" he asked. Personally, he felt weakened when away from his own land for too long.

"I'm here when he wants me to be," Hong Kong shrugged. "I work for him and he looks after me."

"You've never lived by yourself?" Estonia asked, feeling slightly sorry for Hong Kong. In his opinion, the feeling of freedom could never be replaced, even if the alternative was living in luxury.

"Why would I want to?" Hong Kong replied. "If I do something wrong, I can just blame him. Anyway, we all have to work for the humans, don't we?"

"It's not the same," Estonia shook his head sadly. Doing his best for his people was something he felt he had to do, something which every nation wanted to do, whilst he was not so keen to report to another non-human.

"For a while I was all like 'It'd be cool to be independent 'nd stuff' but then I realised that if I went away then there'd be no-one to pick China up when he falls down the stairs, and that would suck, he'd be stuck there forever, needs to get a chairlift or somethin'. And it's not like I can't do what I want, China lets me go home whenever. He follows me back though, I think he's all lonely and stuff, Japan and the others don't really come around anymore."

"That's… interesting," Estonia reluctantly replied, wondering what he said to warrant such a rambling lecture.

"Anyway," Hong Kong continued, opening one of the many sliding doors which adorned the hallways of the labyrinthine house. "You can rest in here for a while, I'll get you up in a couple of hours when China wants you, the bathroom's down the hall," he half-heartedly waved his hand in the general direction of the hallway.

Estonia thanked Hong Kong, and waved him goodbye before throwing himself into the bed of the minimalist room. Despite taking full advantage of China's generosity by buying himself a seat in business class and therefore managing to rest a little on the plane, his days of sleep deprivation had caught up with him, and he was very tired.


	10. Wanton Request

Estonia returned to China's meeting room several hours after their first meeting feeling far more refreshed and aware, having spent his brief time in China's house resting and showering. He had awoken from his nap thinking that he was in his own bed, before briefly panicking and wondering where he was. He then realised his location and felt a little depressed, when was he going to be able to return home?

China was waiting for him in the spacious meeting room, having once again taken a place sitting behind the table on which the wooden crate containing the much sought after sword was placed. Now that he had actually seen the sword, Estonia had spent all of his conscious time trying to determine a sensible price for it. Even if China did consider it strangely valuable, if Estonia sold a few of his own possessions it shouldn't be out of his budget, Lithuania's admission that the blade had more sentimental than material value was becoming somewhat of a comfort.

Estonia, without any prompting, once again took a seat facing China. Hong Kong poured them each a cup of tea and returned to slouch next to the door. Estonia figured that China had told him to do this to seem more formidable and professional, but it wasn't working, mainly since Hong Kong spent most of his time fiddling with his music player.

China looked disgustedly at his cup of tea:

"Tea isn't supposed to have milk in it," he gestured in irritation towards his cup as Hong Kong looked up and shrugged. Estonia himself wasn't too sure about drinking tea which seemed to have condensed milk in it. He eyed his cup with suspicion, it certainly didn't look like anything he would normally drink.

"Anyway," China cleared his throat, still looking at the cup of tea in despair, "I have decided on a price,"

Estonia felt his wallet tremble in fear.

"I do not require any payment," China continued.

"What?" Estonia blurted in mild surprise. In all honesty, he was half expecting something similar to this, China had been far too generous for him to believe that he was here for a simple exchange of currency. Immediately, Estonia's suspicions heightened, there was no way that China was just going to give him what he wanted as a nice little donation.

"If not money, what do you want in return?"

China smiled:

"You know me well," he talked slowly, taking a sip of his strange tea and making a face, trying to show Hong Kong his dissatisfaction. He sat his cup down again and looked up in order to give Estonia his full attention.

"I do require a favour of you," he said seriously.

"A favour?" Estonia was exasperated, if it wasn't for him agreeing to favours he would happily be back home, possibly working, perhaps reading a book, maybe going for a stroll. Instead he was sat on the other side of the world with a well-known swindler, bartering for a blade.

"Yes. Will you help me?"

For a moment Estonia thought he saw some sort of fleeting pleading look in China's eyes. Perhaps this favour wasn't just for his personal gain, it was possible that he was actually trying to do something right. That wouldn't fit with his personality, though. Estonia was probably going to be asked to steal another worthless object, stuffed animals, perhaps?

"What is this favour?" Estonia sighed.

"Nothing illegal, nothing which goes against the Agreements," China purred.

Estonia was somewhat relieved, and became slightly more drawn in by this, if it wasn't against the Agreements then the favour couldn't be wholly terrible.

Towards the end of the last century, the majority of the nations, including Estonia himself, had drawn up a document which detailed all the rules by which they were expected to abide by, named the Agreements. Its creation was mostly a response to the concern for privacy, due to the advent of easily shared media. The nations were now expected to do their best to avoid being in situations where they were photographed or videoed, and were made to stay away from newspapers. They were still expected to work with their government, but were supposed to keep out of the limelight. The Agreements also concerned other matters, such as an outline for the procedure whereby one nation took charge of another, and also banned the nations from harming one another, since the entities themselves were the only ones who could truly injure each other.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" Despite China's assurances, Estonia was still suspicious.

"I'll tell you after you agree to help me," China grinned, although, truth be told, he did look a little nervous, he kept opening and closing his palms and fiddling with his cup of tea. This favour seemed to actually mean something to him.

Estonia knew that he would be an idiot if he agreed to this, however, China wasn't for budging on his decision. Estonia had already made so many idiotic movements over the past few weeks, what difference would one more thing make?

"Okay, I agree," Estonia sighed, throwing his hands up in defeat and knowing that he was most likely making a mistake. However, it couldn't be much worse than what he had already been through.

"Excellent," a wide grin appeared on China's face. "Now I can ask you directly. Out of interest, have you ever been to Nagasaki?"

"I don't believe I have," Estonia warily replied. Why was China asking about Japan? The two of them hadn't been getting on at all recently, they weren't even arguing, Japan was just ignoring China whilst occasionally making the odd non-committal passive aggressive comment. They wouldn't acknowledge each other's presence in meetings. Japan was also looking ill lately, even more so than the rest of them, although none of the nations were really in their best form, with the economy the way it was. Estonia remembered back to the World Meeting a few weeks ago, where he had seen Japan outside, looking stressed.

"Great, I would like for you to visit Nagasaki, I shall arrange an aeroplane to fly you there, just to appreciate the beauty which is the Japanese culture, you understand," China spoke simply, exuding an air of disinterest. "I would also appreciate it if you could stop Japan going on a boat trip in three days' time," he finished with a stern look on his face, although his head was cocked to one side in an attempt to smile.

So that was China's plan, Estonia narrowed his eyes. China wished for him to interfere with Japan's life, arranging it in the way China wanted, presumably. Estonia wasn't even entirely sure that this wasn't against the Agreements, surely there must be something about making others do your dirty work. Then again, it could be innocent, China could be trying to help Japan with something.

"What is the purpose of this boat trip?" Estonia asked in the hopes of finding an intelligible answer.

"I think he's just going fishing," China replied in a tone which implied that Japan was not just going fishing.

"Sorry, I can't do this," Estonia shook his head. "I'll help you with something else, but I'm not going to help perpetuate your on-going tension with Japan. My boss would kill me if he knew that I was interfering with something like this."

It was true that if Estonia's boss found out that he was meddling in other countries' affairs, he would most definitely be stripped of all his benefits. No more holidays for him, and he would probably be made to clean the office for the next decade or so. He would be given a pay cut as well, which was an annoyance, Estonia really liked being able to afford a car. It was also extremely likely that he would get a long lecture from Germany, who seemed to enjoy acting like the Upstanding Citizen of Europe at the moment.

"Your boss can't kill you," China replied, a sly smile on his face. "But Russia could."

This made Estonia sit up, narrowing his eyes:

"What do you mean?"

"Lithuania was Russia's favourite, wasn't he?" China spoke nonchalantly, casually strolling through his sentences. "I don't think he would be very pleased to hear that you were the one who coerced Lithuania into stealing from him."

"I did no such thing!" Estonia tried to be calm, although he failed somewhat, twitching rather noticeably. China couldn't have any sort of proof of this, especially since it was untrue.

"I saw you run out of that storehouse minutes after Belarus entered," China explained, looking out over his laced fingers, mouth set in a small frown. "If you weren't trying to set up Lithuania to take the blame, what were you doing? It's common knowledge that you're envious of him," China smiled.

"I would never do that!" Estonia exclaimed. Whilst he would admit that there were times when he wished that Lithuania would give him more attention, and that there were occasions where there was jealousy between them, the thought of betraying Lithuania, especially to Russia, was a thought he found repulsive.

"I don't think you have much choice here. Do this favour for me and I'll keep quiet," China spoke quietly once more. "I'll even give you this sword you came running for."

Estonia gritted his teeth, it looked as though he had little choice in the matter, he certainly didn't wish for Russia to know of his presence during Lithuania's misadventure. Russia would most definitely listen to China more readily that he would to Estonia, the former had many more lucrative things to offer.

"I guess you have me cornered," Estonia grimaced. "But you better not back out of your side of the bargain, or else…"

China gave a snort of laughter.

"What are you going to do to me?" he rolled his eyes. "Just do this for me and I'll make sure all of Russia's little whipping boys get out of this unscathed."

Estonia slowly nodded, frowning. He was really beginning to resent China and his pretence of kindness. It looked like he had no choice other than to set off to Japan to do China's bidding.


	11. Organised Chaos

Estonia strode hurriedly to the harbour of Nagasaki, wanting to get to Japan's boat in good time. He was getting rather hot and sweaty in his rush, mainly due to the blazing sun which he was quite unused to. Today was the day that Japan was due to go on his supposed fishing trip, and Estonia had yet to find a way of preventing his plan. At this rate he would be begging for his life from Russia before the week was over.

Estonia's first day in Nagasaki was spent being an annoyance towards Japan, who had been polite but dismissive whilst refusing his requests to spend some time together. After this, he had spent the rest of the day sneaking around the boat which was to be used for the trip in the hopes of seeing or hearing something fishy which could help him stop Japan embarking on his voyage. He had no such luck, and was eventually roped into scrubbing the ship whilst Japan went off somewhere else, leaving Estonia unable to contact him for the rest of the day.

The previous day was spent by Estonia trying to use the knowledge he obtained to find a way to stop the trip. He had hired a car and had spent most of the day driving round the outskirts of Nagasaki. Driving on the wrong side of the road was rather bothersome, but once he had gotten used to it, he managed to have a good think. Unfortunately his thoughts were fruitless and he now had to improvise a plan as he made his way to the dockyards, at the moment begging seemed to be his only option.

Now Estonia had reached the port. Despite the early hour, they were already bustling with activity; sailors and fishermen hurriedly carried crates and ropes from one boat to the next, and wheelbarrows full of still-wriggling fish were carted around. The fish were certainly easy to smell, the putrid salty scent most certainly offended Estonia's olfactory system.

Estonia stopped for a moment and attempted to make himself more presentable, smoothing down his jacket which he really shouldn't have bothered to put on this morning, it was far too warm to wear wool. He thought that if he looked presentable he may have more of a chance of success when trying to convince Japan to give up his ambitions to go on the trip. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, pulling out a pale blue handkerchief. He raised it to his head and was about to use it to wipe the sweat off his forehead when something small fell out of it and drifted to the ground. Estonia automatically crouched down to pick it up, but paused as he realised what it was.

For it was a sprig of mint.

Estonia's first thought was one of confusion and slight disgust as he realised that the handkerchief hadn't been washed since it was last used, just under a month ago. However, this was swept aside as he remembered what the plant was.

Estonia quickly used the handkerchief to pick the plant up and returned it to his pocket, looking around in guilt. This plant could certainly solve his problems, but could he really bear to drug a fellow nation? England had no qualms about it, although he had been intoxicated, and the nation he had poisoned had been France, who was possibly one of the more deserving personifications. But Japan, whose apparent crime of annoying China had very little to do with Estonia, was not someone who deserved the same treatment. How would he go about getting Japan to eat a strange leaf anyway? He would have to put it in some type of consumable. England had told him to use it on someone he didn't like, but had unhelpfully not given any help about actually getting them to take it.

"Estonia, you're here again?" A voice, which Estonia assumed was Japan's, called out from behind him, make him start and whip around in a panic, his guilt levels going through the roof.

"Oh, hello there," Estonia laughed nervously as he tried to remember how to act normally. "_I haven't just been dreaming up of ways to drug you,"_ he thought, willing Japan to pick up on his non-drugging vibes.

"Excuse me for the intrusion, but what are you doing here?" Japan asked, barely able to mask his annoyance.

"I wanted to say goodbye to you before you went off on your trip," Estonia replied, his Japanese shakily-spoken, not being used to speaking the language. The only reason that he knew any Japanese whatsoever was due to a brief stint where Russia thought it would be a good idea to learn the language and had appointed Estonia as his clueless tutor. He hadn't practiced the language at all since them, with the exception of when the World Meeting was held in Tokyo a few years ago, so he found it a little difficult to follow conversations.

"That is very kind of you, but rather unnecessary," Japan coldly replied. "I assure you that we will see each other before long," his head bobbed a little, which Estonia assumed was some sort of half-bow, but there was a small frown on his face, showing his discontent.

"Of course," Estonia replied, perhaps a little too loudly, "But it seems rude to come to your country without visiting you," he tried to fabricate a sensible excuse as to why he had been following Japan so closely over these past few days. He thought that Japan, who seemed to hold politeness and tradition above all else, would appreciate someone trying to be polite.

"I was just going to get a cup of tea. I'll get you some as well," Estonia hurriedly declared, turning around quickly but not so quickly that he didn't see Japan opening his mouth, trying to stop him, no doubt.

Estonia quickly walked a little way into town, wanting to find some sort of shop or café which would sell him a couple of cups of tea. He walked down a few short streets, getting looks from locals who were amused at the confused-looking blond guy. As he spent the time walking around and looking for his objective, he thought about his situation a little. Perhaps he could use the tea he bought to put the leaves in, if he tore it up into small enough pieces then it shouldn't be too noticeable. He hoped that it didn't have any taste which would make it easy to detect, he certainly wasn't going to attempt to find out himself.

Eventually, Estonia found a small café which had just opened for the day, he was probably their first customer this morning. He made his way up to the counter:

"Could I have two cups of tea to take away, please?" he asked the person behind the counter, an older woman who looked as though she had just woken up.

"To take away? I suppose I can do that," she looked confusedly at the strange foreigner and his strange tea-drinking habits. "What kind?" she asked.

"Your strongest-tasting variety, please," Estonia replied, he thought that it would be best if it had a strong taste in order to mask the drugs he was planning on putting in it.

The café owner nodded and went about getting his drinks. Estonia paid her and took a seat at one of the tables of the café. He retrieved mint sprig from his pocket and began to tear it up as best he could. He had to use his fingers to do so, although he did attempt to cover them with the handkerchief. Touching the leaves didn't seem to be the best idea. He added four of the small leaves into one of the cups of tea. They were fairly noticeable whilst bobbing at the top of the liquid but he hoped that they would settle as regular tea leaves would. He then made his way back to the docks with his purchase, looking for his undeserving victim

"You shouldn't have," Japan grimaced as Estonia forced a cup of poisoned lukewarm tea onto him. He did feel bad about annoying Japan in such a way, but the thought of being punished by Russia was an extraordinarily good motivation tactic.

"I've come to apologise for bothering you over these past few days," Estonia explained. "I hope this somewhat makes up for it."

"Oh, you have been no bother at all. Thank you for the tea," Japan lied through his teeth, raising the polystyrene cup to his mouth before suddenly stopping. "It smells rather odd," Japan suspiciously eyed the cup, drawing away.

"Really? Mine tastes just fine," Estonia made a big show of taking a gulp of his own non poisoned cup of tea. Japan followed his lead and took a sip of his own cup. He pulled a face, but tried to hide it.

"Is something wrong?" asked Estonia.

"Oh no," Japan replied hurriedly, wanting to be polite. Estonia knew that he would probably be bothered by the fairly large chunks of leaf floating in his drink, he hadn't been overly successful at tearing them up. Hopefully Japan would think them as just tea leaves. "I must finish this quickly, though. I should leave for my trip immediately," he tipped back his cup and gulped down the rest of his tea with a look of determination.

"I'll walk to your boat with you," Estonia was keen to stay with Japan a little longer. He kept shooting nervous sideways glances at his victim, hoping that the mint sprig infused cup of tea would work quickly and Japan would be unable to set sail.

Japan nodded, not looking quite so annoyed this time. The duo walked along the seafront, quickly at first, with Estonia barely managing to keep up with Japan's rapid walking speed, but at a rapidly decelerating pace. After a short while, Japan's arm began to wave around, sticking out to the side, as if searching for something.

"Is something wrong?" asked Estonia, hoping that this was a strange sign that the mint sprig was working.

"Oh no," Japan wobbled, "Oh my," he reached out and grabbed onto Estonia's forearm. "Yes, I'm quite alright," he spoke shakily, looking nauseous. The mint sprig must be very potent in order to be working this quickly.

"Do you want to sit down?" Estonia asked, worried about how tightly Japan was clutching onto his arm.

"No," Japan replied angrily, pushing away from Estonia's arm and immediately losing his balance and falling against Estonia's chest, wrapping his arms around Estonia's shoulders. A passing sailor winked at the pair.

"I'm sorry," Japan spoke unsteadily, tripping over his words. "I'm… I'm… Oh, you're so sparkly!"

Estonia raised an eyebrow, as did all of the people passing by them.

"I think you should sit down," Estonia sternly told Japan. "I think you're ill. It must be all the stress."

"But I don't want to," Japan stuck his bottom lip out, his arms now around Estonia's waist as he slowly began sinking to his knees. It was beginning to get rather awkward.

"C'mon, we have to go," Estonia nudged Japan with his knee, trying to get him to stand up; having another man's face near his crotch wasn't his kind of thing.

Japan grumbled a little as Estonia pulled him up. It was obvious that he wouldn't be able to walk on his own. At first he tried to lend Japan his shoulder, but Japan's legs weren't functioning at all and he was being dragged around on his knees. Then Estonia tried to carry him over his shoulder, but his shoulders weren't wide enough and Japan just slid off. Estonia thought about asking one of the now-staring sailors to help him, but eventually settled for carrying Japan bridal-style in his arms, luckily he was fairly light. Japan giggled as he hung onto Estonia's neck; their antics were gathering quite a crowd.

Estonia awkwardly carried Japan away from the seafront, wondering where he was going to go with his giggling luggage.


	12. Realisation

The first thought which entered Estonia's mind was that he could take Japan back to the hotel room until he had recovered, but the thought of trying to get through the foyer of the hotel whilst carrying a babbling adult male was rather intimidating. He would probably get arrested. It would also be best if Japan didn't regain his senses whilst inside Estonia's hotel room; he didn't want to be mistaken as some strange type of plotting pervert.

Having ruled out the hotel room, Estonia made his way to his hire car, which he thought was the next best choice. He plonked Japan down in the back seat and put the seat belt on him, his task made difficult by Japan flopping around like an oversized earthworm. Eventually Japan was strapped in, and Estonia started up the car and started to drive away, deciding to head for a small park which he had discovered the previous day on his journey around the outskirts of the city.

Estonia hoped that none of the sailors who had been working on Japan's boat had seen him. There had been four of them in total, all tall and broad shouldered and speaking a strange, rough, hard-to-understand dialect of Japanese. Estonia hadn't been near the boat this morning, but the crew had seen him two days ago and would therefore know what he looked like and that he was an acquaintance of Japan's. They would probably be able to hunt him down somehow when they realised that he had taken Japan.

It would be nice for Estonia if he could just drop Japan off somewhere and flee back to Beijing. He had completed his delegated task, Japan certainly wouldn't be able to go anywhere near a boat for the rest of the day, and hopefully the crew, missing a member, would decide to cancel their voyage. Estonia might even manage to gain an extra gift from China for stopping the boat trip going ahead altogether. But he couldn't just leave Japan lying around, he would have to watch over him until his senses were somewhat regained.

Estonia still was unaware of the nature of Japan's proposed 'fishing' trip. He decided that the best use of his time would be to find out more about it, he was now a part of it, after all. He pulled his vehicle into the car park near to the parkland, and positioned it carefully within the allotted area, switching the engine off before turning around to talk to Japan.

"You okay?" Estonia asked, being careful whilst speaking his broken Japanese.

"I'm so tired," Japan murmured, slouching against the side of the car, his eyelids bobbing open and closed. "I keep seeing giraffes and toilet slippers. They're everywhere. I want to go to sleep."

"You can soon," Estonia tried to ease his captive's distress. He reached out an arm and tentatively patted Japan's shoulder. "There, there," he awkwardly comforted, "I just want to ask you a few questions." He didn't really know if he should be asking such questions, but he felt that with his level of involvement, it was his right to know the truth of the matter.

"Why do you want to go on this boat trip?" Estonia asked seriously, attempting to be intimidating but failing as he saw Japan's pathetic state, softening his face and feeling sorry for his helpless victim.

"The boat is going on the sea," dreamily explained Japan. "We're going to visit Okinawa. It's going to take a few days to get there, but when we do, I'm going to buy lots of awamori," he smiled sleepily, looking content. "Then we're going to go and catch herring and jellyfish and cuttlefish and shrimp and crabs and mackerel."

Estonia was stumped. It really did seem as though Japan was going fishing.

"So it's nothing to do with China?" Estonia asked in confusion, hoping that the sprig of mint had some kind of memory-removing effect so that he didn't have to explain his questions when Japan recovered.

"China said that he was my brother," Japan sighed. "But he hates me. That's okay though, I don't like him either. I work so hard every day, I haven't taken a day off for years, and still he berates me. I'm not good enough for him. If he showed me some sort of respect it would be better, but he just continues picking on me. Talking to people is hard work, I just want to hide away and not speak to them. Sometimes I have to go outside to clear my head, but I come back, but he doesn't care," Japan's head began to loll. "He thinks himself so… superior. But, I don't care…" Japan's eyes began to close. He smiled a little and shuffled around on the seat of the car before drifting off into unconsciousness. Estonia reached forward to reawaken him, but recoiled as he realised that he didn't have the heart to do so. Japan looked so peaceful whilst asleep, all of the worry lines which he carried while he was awake seemed to melt away.

Estonia was a little annoyed that he wasn't able to question Japan any further, but, in all honesty, it didn't really matter. He had completed his objective, which was the whole point of his long and arduous journey. Before long he would be sat at home in his own house, sleeping in his own bed, eating his own food. Life would be good once more.

Leaving the car, Estonia took a quick walk around the car park in order to stretch his legs before returning to his vehicle. It would have been nice to go for a stroll around the park, but he was conscious of leaving a sleeping Japan behind in the locked car, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for him to be left unsupervised. Instead he decided the best course of action was to sit in the car and wait a few hours until Japan was starting to show signs of recovery.

At first Estonia tried to entertain himself by switching on the car radio, but he could only seem to tune it to some strange enka station which seemed to irritate Japan, who started to mumble and toss in his drugged sleep. So as Estonia turned the radio off and sat in silence, he began to feel himself growing increasingly tired and eventually nodded off to sleep.

* * *

"Don't make any sudden movements."

Estonia slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that it was evening and a variety of pinks and purples and oranges and yellows lined the horizon behind which the large red sun was setting. Then he realised there was a faint scent around him, it smelled faintly of the perfume of rotten fish, but an overwhelming stench of mint overrode it. Then he discovered that he was in a car, in the driver's seat, even. He tried to move a little but discovered that the seat belt had been pulled tight around him, with his arms trapped underneath it. That was strange, he wouldn't do that to himself, this must be someone else's work. And then he realised, someone had just been talking to him! His pupils dilated as he suddenly fully awoke and quickly tried to sit up.

"Don't move," the voice spoke calmly, showing no emotion. "What were you planning on doing with me?"

"Japan?" Estonia was surprised for a moment, before remembering what he had been doing. Damn it! He had intended to awaken long before Japan did, maybe the mint leaves weren't as strong a drug as he had assumed.

"What were you intending to do with me?" Japan repeated, staring down at Estonia. "Why did you kidnap me?" he didn't seem to be overly furious, although his eyes had darkened and he certainly didn't look happy about the circumstances he had found himself in.

"I can tell you whilst we drive back," Estonia grimaced as he tried to wriggle his way out of the situation. He slowly took his arms out of the seatbelt straitjacket, causing Japan to twitch. Estonia was cautious. Although Japan looked calm, if they did get into some sort of physical fight, he was certain that he would lose. If they were fighting with firearms or farming implements, Estonia may have had a good chance; but if they were bare fisted, Japan had far greater experience and expertise, and also a lower centre of gravity due to being a good head shorter than Estonia, so the fight would be decided before it had even begun.

"You are not driving back," Japan sternly spoke. "I should leave you here, but it is in my best interests to return to Nagasaki as quickly as possible, and I would like to speak to you. So if you would get out of the car and let me drive, this would be the most streamlined solution."

Estonia complied with the instructions, slowly getting out of the car and making his way around to the passenger side. Japan glared at him as he got into the seat; Estonia at least had the decency to look ashamed. They set off away from the car park, Japan grumpily sat behind the steering wheel. Luckily they were only twenty minutes away from the city.

"So," Japan coldly turned to Estonia. "Are you going to tell me why you thought it a good idea to kidnap me? You may have been behaving strangely towards me, but I wasn't expecting this from you."

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you," Estonia spoke quietly. "But it was something that I had to do. I didn't have any choice in this."

Japan was quiet for a moment, seemingly pausing in order to think about the appropriate response.

"I think your actions have been both reckless and unprofessional. I shall spend my time tonight composing a report to be sent to your boss which will contain details of your inappropriate behaviour. I assume you will agree with me doing this."

"I'd rather if you didn't," Estonia replied. "But I shall concede." In all honesty, he wasn't overly concerned about his boss finding out. His current boss seemed to be confused about the existence of the personifications; he usually acted bemusedly whilst in the presence of Estonia, treating him like some sort of glorified secretary. It was the other nations finding out about his antics which made him worry.

"I am glad that you are no longer behaving erratically," Japan huffed. "Although I think it would be best for both of us if you would leave my land immediately."

"I agree," Estonia swallowed a lump in his throat. "I shall take the next flight back to my home."

The rest of the journey to Nagasaki was unusual. The duo sat in silence, an air of contempt and awkwardness seething between them. Japan was most definitely angry, but it was a quiet type of angry. Estonia had no doubt that Japan would attempt to tell others of his actions, but in some sort of roundabout way, he didn't care. He had some sort of agreement with China, who he assumed would be able to protect him. He did feel bad for relying on others, but he had seen how stressed Japan was, and didn't want to perpetuate the feeling, so he thought that making as little fuss as possible was the way to go.

Estonia, upon returning to Nagasaki, got back behind the wheel of his hired car and drove off, pleased that his ordeals were finally over. He had to go back to Beijing, but after that, he would be able to go home, and that made him happy.


	13. Dramatic Communications

Estonia had finally returned to his own house and he was pleased; pleased to see the familiar buildings, pleased to be greeted in his own language, pleased to drive his own car and see his own neighbours. He had been away from his home for around a week longer than anticipated, which he had been unprepared for. It wouldn't be a surprise if he found that his refrigerator was beginning to develop its own ecosystem right about now. He hoped that the lettuce hadn't tried to take over the world yet again.

The wave of relief he encountered as he returned home meant that Estonia didn't care about how he had been sent away in exile from Japan, or how he had been blackmailed by China, or that he had perhaps become a little too close to Russia. He was just happy to be home.

When Estonia had returned to Beijing airport, China had been standing at the arrivals gate, greeting him in a most polite and overly enthusiastic manner. He had thanked Estonia tremendously, bowing and wringing his hand. They had attracted a lot of attention from the other passengers. Whilst this was going on Hong Kong sulked in the background, a knowing smirk on his face. China had even lent Estonia take a private jet to take back to Tallinn, the sword containing crate given pride of place at the front of the vehicle. Estonia was fairly jealous; there was no way that his boss would allow him a private jet. It had been nice flying directly home though, he usually had to make his way back via Riga.

Thinking back, China had been perhaps a little too happy about Estonia's success with stopping the boat. Did China really hate Japan so much that he was ecstatic for merely being able to ruin an innocent fishing trip? But Japan had mentioned (when drugged, nevertheless) that he hadn't taken a day off in years, so this trip must be some sort of official business. Estonia shook his head; he didn't want to think about his marvellous misadventure any more.

Estonia lay down his luggage and sprawled onto his sofa, kicking his shoes off. He would take another day off tomorrow to drive down to Lithuania's house with the sword. It would take a long time to get there by car, but he didn't feel like taking the time and money needed to arrange for a valuable, possibly fragile blade to travel on an airline. Then the day after it would be back to work for him, there would be a lot of things to catch up with.

Laying down on the sofa and relaxing, Estonia was about to close his eyes, when his home telephone started to ring. At first he ignored the irritating noise; it was probably someone who his boss had ordered to try to convince him to go back to work, at the moment he was currently still away on official business, so he had a valid excuse to lounge about. Of course, it could have been another nation who needed to speak to him and couldn't reach him at work, or perhaps the woman who lived a couple of doors down had lost her dog again. The phone continued to ring; its noise was starting to bother Estonia. Whoever was ringing didn't seem to want to give up. Sighing in defeat, Estonia stood up and walked over to the telephone.

"Hello, Mr Estonia?" a familiar voice answered softly. Obviously it was a nation, for they weren't using his chosen human name. "It's Japan," the now-identified voice calmly continued.

Japan? Estonia shivered, what did he want? Was Japan calling to tell him that he was going to be reported to the other nations? Whilst he did admit that he would deserve such a punishment, he very much would rather if this wasn't happening.

"Y-yes?" Estonia reluctantly replied.

"I have called to thank you," Japan solemnly continued, "You saved the lives of my crew members, and stopped me from receiving a great deal of pain. I don't know what I can do to express my gratitude. Please accept my apology for chasing you away and not listening to you."

There was a short pause in which Estonia looked at the handset of the telephone in confusion and pulled a strange, flustered face. What was Japan talking about?

"Pardon?"

"I completely understand why you did not tell me at the time," Japan continued. "No-one would want to get on the wrong side of China," he spoke bitterly. "If I may be so rude, could I possibly ask how you discovered the plan of these assailants? China didn't tell you personally, I presume?" He sounded both grovelling and upset.

Estonia paused again, utterly confused and unsure of how he was going to continue the conversation:

"I'm sorry," he started talking, trying to hide his confusion. He had no knowledge of anything to do with any assailants. "I'm extremely fatigued. Could you perhaps explain a little more slowly?"

"You met up with China, on your boss' orders, I presume," Japan spoke slowly. At any other time Estonia would have found his slow pace insulting, but at this moment he was too busy trying to sort his thoughts out. "Upon your arrival, you discovered that there was a plan to destroy the boat I was going to use to visit the Senkaku Islands whilst my crew and I were on board. You then came to stop me from participating in the excursion, putting yourself in danger in the process. I find your actions truly honourable."

So he had inadvertently stopped a boatful of people from being killed? He was pleased, of course but also confused. The Senkaku Islands? Estonia quickly shuffled through his memory bank of modern day politics. They were the islands an oil field had been found near to, and obviously the nearby nations; Japan, Taiwan, and China, had been arguing over the ownership of such an area. In a horrible way, it would make some sort of sense for a malicious group to try and destroy Japan's boat; there must be a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment in some areas of China.

But then there was the fact that China had sent Estonia to Japan in order to stop the proposed boat trip. Presumably China knew of the would-be actions of this group of attackers, and it wasn't just some sort of huge coincidence. Did this mean that China had actually indirectly saved Japan and his crew? It would make sense for China not to do anything himself, not only would his boss veto it, if he was found out then the repercussions for helping out a nation he was supposed to be at loggerheads with would far surpass anything which Estonia would have to go through.

"Estonia, are you still there?"

"Yes," he hastily replied.

"I would like to get you a gift. I should get it prepared immediately, I believe that my next meeting with China will take up a lot of my time," he sighed. "What sort of gift would you like? You're interested in technology, aren't you? My home produces a wide variety of electronics. Are you interested in video games? Or would you prefer art; pottery, canvasses? Or perhaps some type of consumable? The mochi produced by my house is popular."

Estonia was overwhelmed with Japan's generosity. Of course, if he believed that someone had just saved him from a horrible experience, then he would be extremely grateful, but he wasn't the one who had done any saving here, the nation who had really saved Japan had been China. Yet Japan's next meeting with China was likely to be full of anger and contempt. If only there was some way to get Japan to listen a little to China. Estonia couldn't just tell the truth; that would get him into even more bother.

"I don't require a gift," Estonia thought quickly. "But would it be possible to ask a favour of you?"

It was obvious to Estonia that China did care for Japan somewhat, since he had gone to all the trouble of getting Estonia to save him from a group of attackers.

There was a pause on the end of the line.

"I suppose I could," Japan's voice curiously crept along the wire. "What would this favour be?"

Aha! Now the tables had turned and Estonia was the one issuing nations to do things they would rather not do. He felt a bit proud of himself.

"When you next meet with China, could you do so with an open mind?" Estonia spoke tentatively, trying not to spook Japan. "I think it would benefit you both if you listened to each other's opinions."

There was a pause on the end of the line. Estonia was worried that Japan had hung up upon hearing of his request.

"If that is what you wish, then I shall follow your advice. You obviously are aware of something that I am not," Japan sounded a little put out, and possibly suspicious of Estonia's involvement with China.

"I'm glad," Estonia smiled. Not only had he managed to get out of the corner he had been driven into when he had gone ahead with kidnapping Japan, but he had also done his bit for world peace. Today had been a good day.

After exchanging polite parting words with Japan, Estonia put the phone back on its hook and once again collapsed back onto his sofa. He was finally free.


	14. Simple Accomplishment

"What are you doing here?" Lithuania asked bemusedly as he stepped out of his old, beaten up car.

Estonia had left own his house just before midday, assuming that he would get to Lithuania's house after the latter had returned from work. He unfortunately did not factor in Lithuania's extreme work heavy attitude, and therefore had been sitting outside Lithuania's house for around an hour before its resident had returned, passing his time by watching the sun travel through the sky. He had thought about many things whilst doing this; the weather, the strength of the euro, what the next meeting between China and Japan would be like, and, most importantly, what Lithuania's reaction would be as he was handed back his sword. Estonia was excited at the thought of being able to make his friend happy.

"If you had said you were coming to visit, I would have come home early," Lithuania seemed to be happy about receiving his unexpected guest, but he also looked tired and worried. "Please, come in," he told Estonia as he unlocked the front door of his house. "Would you like some coffee?"

Estonia stepped out of his car and walked into Lithuania's house. He didn't trust himself to talk too much without blurting out something about the sword which was currently placed in the boot of his car. He wanted to make Lithuania wonder about the reason for his visit before he was surprised with the gift.

Lithuania's house was certainly a sharp contrast to the last house Estonia had visited: China's. Whilst China's house had been a traditional structure, Lithuania's was a new build. It was clean and airy and easy to navigate, although from behind half-closed doors Estonia could see piles of paperwork. It was minimally decorated, a couple of landscape paintings hung on the walls and there was a rather expensive looking clock hung up in the hallway, but there was nothing to hint that its resident was over a millennium old.

"You drove all the way here?" Lithuania frowned as he ushered Estonia into the front room. "Are you okay? You're not too tired, are you?"

"Not at all," Estonia replied, trying to hide the smirk which wanted to appear on his face. Lithuania was rushing around the room straightening lampshades and sneakily dusting already clean shelves. Ordinarily Estonia would have felt guilty about making him worry so much; but this time there was a reason for his abrupt appearance, so he felt a slight strange happiness at watching Lithuania's haste.

Eventually Lithuania sat down in a seat opposite to Estonia, handing him a mug of coffee.

"How have you been? _Where_ have you been?" Lithuania curiously asked. "I phoned up your office a couple of days ago, but I was told that you hadn't come back after going to Russia. Worried me a little," he chuckled.

Estonia paused for a second as he raised his mug of coffee to his mouth and took a sip. He enjoyed watching Lithuania's curiosity grow, watching him lean forward in anticipation of an answer.

"I've been travelling," Estonia spoke, setting down his mug onto the coffee table. He saw Lithuania grimace as he didn't place it the coaster. "I've been to China. And Japan."

"To do what?" Lithuania asked, an uncertain look on his face. It obviously wasn't the answer that he was expecting.

"It was more for pleasure than it was business," Estonia spoke slowly. "But I did get you a souvenir. I'll go get it now," he stood up and made his way back outside.

"A souvenir? You really didn't have to," Lithuania tried to stop him. "Did you come all the way here just to bring me a souvenir? You shouldn't have."

Estonia moved round to the boot of his car, Lithuania hovering at his side, trying to tell him that he wasn't bothered about any souvenir, and that Estonia's presence was already enough of a gift. Estonia ignored him, opening the boot and pulling out the crate.

"That's certainly a large souvenir," Lithuania sounded impressed as he momentarily stopped his objections.

"It would be best if you opened it inside," Estonia spoke, not being able to keep his face straight any longer as he started to smirk. Lithuania picked up on this change in facial expressions and paused, before starting to smile himself. He let Estonia carry the crate into his house without any objections.

"Go ahead, open it," Estonia lay the crate down in the hallway of the Lithuania's house.

"Is this a practical joke?" quietly asked Lithuania as he crouched down. He reached his hand out and ran it around the top of the crate, letting his hand slide down to the side of the box. He hooked his fingers behind the lid and started to pull the top off, hands shaking ever so slightly. Estonia stood behind him, smiling and feeling rather self-important.

Lithuania paused a little before he finally lifted the lid fully clear of the rest of the crate. Then he stopped, letting the piece of wood drop with a clatter and just staring at the sword which was safely nestled amongst its bed of wood shavings. He crouched there in silence for a while, shaking a little. Was he crying?

"Are you okay?" asked Estonia. He wasn't expecting such an emotional show over such a generic-looking piece of metalwork.

"Thank you," choked out Lithuania, still staring at the sword. He reached out to touch it, but drew his hand back before he made contact. "I want to show you something," he directed his speech at Estonia, turning around to face him. He wasn't quite crying, although his eyes did seem a little reddened and twitchy.

Estonia nodded, and Lithuania went off up the stairs of his house to gather something. Estonia looked at the sword which was resting quietly in its crate. He felt some kind of contempt towards it, it had given him a lot of trouble and grief; yet at the same time he could look at it with a kind of fondness, without it he wouldn't be here, able to bring joy to his good friend. In a way he would miss it. He had grown in confidence over these past two weeks. Two weeks ago he would have laughed at and brushed aside anyone who had told him that he would be brave enough to travel around the world in search of an antique; why would he put himself in such a situation? Of course, he was still annoyed at how he had been manipulated by China; and drugging Japan hadn't been his finest hour; he even felt a tiny amount of guilt about robbing Russia, but overall he felt that he had grown from the experience.

Estonia turned to face the stairway as Lithuania returned down it, carrying some small object which was wrapped in a white cloth.

"This goes with the sword," Lithuania spoke softly. "I managed to get it out and hide it beneath my jacket before Belarus found me," he held the item out before him and smiled a little. Estonia accepted the item and relieved it of its cloth blanket.

The item was revealed to be a small shield, the type which would be fitted over the blade of a ceremonial weapon. It was painted with a coat of arms; a bright blood red background with the likeness of a white eagle placed in the foreground. Estonia frowned. It was Poland's coat of arms.

"This goes with the sword?" Estonia asked, frowning. "I thought you said that the sword belonged to you."

"I thought so too," Lithuania sighed, looking sheepish. "The swords we were given were identical, they stayed together for centuries. In all honesty, I expected to find them together in the same place."

"I expect you think I should go find yours now," Estonia chuckled; he half wanted to be angry about this discovery, but he found that he really didn't care. He had done this to make Lithuania happy, and he had achieved that goal. He was content.

"Oh no," Lithuania widened his eyes, not realising that Estonia was joking. "You have gone above and beyond even what I asked of you," Lithuania looked Estonia in the eye. "You have my eternal thanks."

"I mean no offence when I say this," Lithuania started. Estonia wasn't sure that he wanted to hear what was going to come next. "But I'm finding it a little hard to believe that you went through with going all around the world for the sake of something I had to force you into caring about. I hugely appreciate it, of course. In fact," he smiled, "I think I'm going to search for my own sword by myself."

Estonia opened his mouth to say something. He wasn't exactly sure what, maybe that he would help with Lithuania's mission. Lithuania held up his hand to stop him.

"If you, who makes his way through avoiding and staying away from difficult situations, can bear to spend so much time going out of the way to rescue something which is only important to a distant friend, then I certainly can gather up the courage to do something for myself," he looked kindly upon Estonia, his eyes twinkling. "Thank you."

And as Estonia stood opposite his old friend, watching said friend's resolve steel itself, he felt a strange surge of pride. He was appreciated, he was exhausted, and he was glad.

* * *

**And thus ends my first foray into the world of multi-chaptered fiction writing! I am amazingly appreciative of everyone who has read, favourite, followed, or commented on this story. Thank you!**

**It would be great if you could comment on the story. What did you like? Dislike? Any suggestions I could use in order to improve?**

**Thank you once more for taking your time to read through this!**


End file.
